Mathieu van der Poel reacts as he crosses the finish line in first place on third place of the men’s elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia looks at Mathieu van der Poel as they fight for the first position of the men’s elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia with Mathieu van der Poel on the second position during the men’s elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia Lorena Wiebes celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the women’s elite race of the Sanremo Women one day cycling race from Genova to Sanremo (156km) Mathieu van der Poel hugs a woman after winning the men’s elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia Pogacar attacked earlier than usual — on the penultimate Cipressa climb — but Mathieu van der Poel followed the Slovenian standout every step of the way and eventually won a three-man sprint Saturday that also included Filippo Ganna “He tried everything he could,” Van der Poel said of Pogacar I think everyone knows how impressive this is He was maybe the strongest uphill but I felt I had control on the wheel.” It was Van der Poel’s second Milan-San Remo victory after the Dutch rider also took the season’s first “Monument” race two years ago Having tried unsuccessfully previously to swing into action on the Poggio climb shortly before the finish Pogacar this time made his first attack midway up the Cipressa with 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) to go in the 289-kilometer (180-mile) race Van der Poel and Ganna were the only riders capable of sticking with Pogacar and the three studied each other on the finishing straight before Van der Poel made the first move — which proved decisive Ganna finished second and Pogacar settled for third “I felt that I still had a good sprint in the legs and I knew that the other two wanted to make it a long sprint So I think I surprised them a bit by launching my sprint at the 300-meter sign Added Pogacar: “They were just too fast for me and there was nothing I could do.” Michael Matthews won the sprint for fourth “It was an edition to remember,” Van der Poel said “I don’t remember when the decisive move was on the Cipressa but it was surely a long time ago It was special with just the three of us at the finish.” Pogacar and Van der Poel shattered the Cipressa climbing record of 9 minutes set in 1996 when Gabriele Colombo launched his attack there and went on to a solo victory It was the seventh Monument win for Van der Poel who has also won the Tour of Flanders three times and Paris-Roubaix twice The other Monuments are Leige-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia — races that Pogacar has won multiple times European champion Lorena Wiebes beat standout Marianne Vos in a sprint finish to win the women’s race Wiebes was helped by a leadout from teammate Lotte Kopecky The women’s race followed a 156-kilometer (97-mile) route from Genoa to San Remo Five-time Monuments winner Pogacar launched two attacks on the Poggio di San Remo with 6km remaining, but he could not establish a decisive lead with Van der Poel going with him on the descent. The last five kilometres had all sorts of action, including attacks from Thomas Pidcock and Matteo Sobrero. Philipsen, who won six stages of the Tour de France, raced to the biggest one-day race victory of his career in the fastest time ever of the classic, crossing the line in six hours, 14 minutes and 44 seconds (6:14:44). Milano-San Remo is the first of cycling's five 'Monument' one-day races, along with the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaic, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and Giro di Lombardia. The next race will be the Tour of Flanders, taking place on Sunday, 31 March. 🥇","event":null,"destination_url":"","entry_point_tag":"base","entry_point_type":"instory_campaign"}" data-tracking="click" href="https://www.olympics.com/en/sign-in?entry_point_type=instory_campaign&entry_point_tag=base&template=base&origin=https%3A%2F%2Folympics.com%2Fen%2Folympic-channel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Olympic Membership - Free Live Stream Sports & Original Series - join now This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Be one of the first to try our new activity feed Pogačar gave an all-out assault on the race's finale Milan-San Remo is the most unpredictable race in professional cycling. We knew that Tadej Pogačar was going to attack We knew that UAE Team Emirates-XRG was going to push the pace on the Cipressa But no one expected there to be only three riders left in contention with 25km to go It was one of the most incredible editions of Milan-San Remo in history the current world champion gritting his teeth in trying to drop the former world champion with the 86kg Italian in Filippo Ganna hot on their heels Nothing ever happens in the first 250 km of Milan-San Remo But that’s only because the race is saving all of its excitement for the finale It is the easiest race to finish but the hardest one to win we’ll examine the power data from Milan-San Remo including Tadej Pogačar’s record-shattering ascent of the Cipressa The first 200-250 km of Milan-San Remo are among the easiest in professional cycling Most amateur cyclists could probably tailgun at the back of the peloton It takes a long time to arrive at the base of the Capo climbs — but could you have survived While we don’t have much of Pogačar’s power data we can use data from Axel Laurance throughout this analysis Laurance is about the same size as Pogačar at ~65 kg and the Frenchman was on Pogačar’s wheel when the world champion attacked on the Cipressa the first 220 km of the race was quite relaxed The second phase of Milan-San Remo includes the Capo Climbs It’s up to the riders to decide if the Capo climbs will affect the outcome of the race; in 2025 That meant that the next part of the race would be incredibly explosive UAE Team Emirates-XRG showed their pre-race plan Discussed in the team bus the night before Milan-San Remo the plan was always to launch Pogačar on the Cipressa and Jhonatan Narváez as the leadout men for Pogačar the plan was to set the fastest time ever on the Cipressa The team even showed a screenshot of the Cipressa Strava segment included in their pre-race meeting and less than 24 hours later the plan was executed on the penultimate climb of Milan-San Remo but Narváez cleaned up the mess by making it to the front part-way up the climb The Ecuadorian sprinted out of each corner stretching the field and nearly forcing it to break Pogačar launched off his teammates’ wheel at nearly 1000w while Van der Poel and Romain Grégoire were the only other riders who could follow the acceleration A post shared by Velon CC (@veloncc) Pogačar continued pushing full gas to the top of the climb but the Dutchman was glued to Pogačar’s wheel and then there were three left at the front of the race the gap to the chasers was over 40 seconds These three riders had just done the fastest Cipressa in history and now they would fight for the win of Milan-San Remo and it only took a few meters for Pogačar to launch his first attack but Ganna couldn’t handle the acceleration and so the Italian went into time trial mode The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider even grabbed a bottle from the side of the road while following one of Pogačar’s attacks Van der Poel asserted his dominance further by attacking Pogačar in the final 500 meters of the Poggio The world champion was able to close the gap but Pogačar was running out of ways to win the race Ganna came back to the leading duo in the final kilometer of Milan-San Remo The trio began a game of cat-and-mouse with a few hundred meters to go but to everyone’s surprise Van der Poel launched first Van der Poel said that he knows everyone thinks that he prefers a short sprint from a low speed This would allow MVDP to use his superior acceleration to win the sprint Little do they know that MVDP trains his long and short sprint power so he is comfortable launching in a wide range he began his sprint at 300 meters to go in order to surprise Ganna and Pogačar Van der Poel gapped Ganna with his first few pedal strokes and Pogačar wasn’t able to make up the difference and so he crossed the line in third After one of the most thrilling Milan-San Remos in history we might be left with more questions than answers Is there any way in which Pogačar can win Milan-San Remo How much faster can Pogačar climb the Cipressa And can anyone beat Mathieu Van der Poel when he’s at his very best We won’t have to wait long as Pogačar and MVDP face off this Friday at the E3 Saxo Classic Power Analysis data courtesy of Strava Strava sauce extension  What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense There was some new tech on display at La Classicissima including wheels from Vision and shoes from Fizik along with some rather special chainrings for Tadej Pogačar Mathieu Van der Poel's spare bike featured a design from Canyon's recent MyCanyon customisation offering Late March has rolled around but somehow it feels like the season has only just got started, and the Tour Down Under just days ago. This weekend marks the first of the Monuments in 2025 While recent editions have enjoyed pleasant spring weather this year it was far from sunshine and short-sleeved jerseys at the start in Pavia The forecast rain had delivered and the sound of inflating and deflating tyres soundtracked the paddocks we had time to take in the tech being used for the longest one-day race on the Men's WorldTour calendar The consensus across teams was that nothing had been changed from the planned setups had the race started under sunnier skies One thing that was striking walking around the paddocks was just how many teams were leaving watts on the table. Teams using waxed chains were the underwhelming minority compared to those running oiled chains this could lead to significant efficiency losses when the race got spicy on (or before) the Poggio Although Milan-San Remo is often defined by attacks on the uphill gradients of the Cipressa and Poggio there is no denying that the race is fast throughout The average speeds on the climbs rarely see anything south of 35 km/h (22 mph) with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) exceeding 50 km/h (31 mph) during their assault on the Poggio last year Eventual winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) averaged 46.11 km/h for the 288 km race last year begging the question of whether a double chainset is really necessary If the start of the race is anything to go by both teams and individual riders cannot agree Previous winner Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and teammate Fred Wright decided to use a single Using Carbon-Ti chainrings as Shimano does not officially offer a 1X setup Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), another favourite for 'La Classicissima' this year, decided to run a single chainring along with other SRAM-sponsored athletes like Jonathan Milan and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) the number of riders that had decided to stick with a traditional double chainset appeared high considering the nature of the race It is hard to tell from a glance but Italian brand Vision looked to be debuting a set of unreleased wheels at Milan-San Remo Both EF-Education Easy Post and Arkéa-B&B Hotels had a limited number of riders using wheels labelled as Metron 45 RS The black decals make it hard to spot at first the wheels look to use carbon fibre spokes The new wheels are marked up as 45 mm deep and the spokes are clearly carbon fibre when viewed up close The Metron 45 RS looks to be Vision's first carbon-spoked wheelset Beyond the carbon fibre spokes it is hard to tell what is new to these wheels it is fair to assume we won't be waiting too long for more details now that these wheels are out in the open The rain at the start in Pavia meant most riders were kitted out with overshoes to keep themselves warm and dry before racing got underway he was seen wearing a new shoe from team sponsor Fizik The shoe looks to wrap around the foot with the upper wrapping underneath the new model also looks to be a lot straighter in its profile deviating from the more curved shape that has become typical from the Italian brand The white shoes García Cortina wore went without any branding except for a small Fizik logo on the rear of the shoe 2025 is a special year for the Italian bike brand Bianchi It marks 140 years since the company was founded making it the oldest bike brand in the world still in business To celebrate this illustrious milestone the brand has released an anniversary edition of the Oltre RC and Specialissima RC with 140 frames of each available to the public The marbled paint is a work of art that has a hypnotic depth to it and makes the paint look as if it is still liquid Arkéa-B&B Hotels premier rider Kévin Vauquelin was presented with one to ride at Italy's highest profile one-day race The bike sports a marbled dark green colourway with hints of the carbon fibre beneath peaking through This finish extends onto the seat mast and a small logo celebrating the brand's anniversary on the seat tube Scott-sponsored Q36.5 have both the Foil RC and the Addict RC at their disposal Considering the race profile and the speed at which the Cipressa and Poggio are tackled it would make sense to ride the most aerodynamic bike you have at your disposal who made a valiant late attack last year on the Via Roma before settling for 11th in the bunch kick has decided that the Addict RC is the right bike for him even if most of his teammates made the more obvious choice to use the Foil It appears to be the bike that Pidcock prefers outright having used it at Strade Bianche and the majority of his race days across the early season stage races where he's found himself at the pointy end A single 54-tooth chainring was Pidcock's chosen setup for Milan-San Remo pairing it with a 10-33 cassette to give him all the range he needs Pidcock bucked the trend of his Q36.5 teammates and decided to use the Addict RC over the Foil RC 165 mm cranks and a 54-tooth one-by configuration the bike is packed with current tech trends Of all the rider's bikes I managed to get up close and personal with the winner from a decade ago had one of the most aggressive setups A 56/44 chainset is a clear sign that the German veteran is expecting a fast race and could be preparing himself for a sprint finish in San Remo Degenkolb is running this enormous integrated cockpit from Lapierre It isn't so often that you see 140+ mm stems being used these days but it does make the bike look incredibly aggressive and ready for the fireworks that are bound to come in the finale When we first got to see the new Noah Fast from Ridley at the Women's Tour Down Under one thing stuck out like a sore thumb on such an obviously aerodynamic bike: the cockpit the entire team was running a two-piece configuration that left a lot to be desired in terms of wind-cheating efficiency It looks like the team have slowly started receiving the integrated cockpits that create a far smoother and visibly more aerodynamic front end to the bike The flowing lines create a seamless transition from the stem to the top tube with the main bulk of the stem nestled within the footprint of the exceedingly deep headtube you'd expect Tadej Pogačar to have certain finishing touches to his bike The rainbow wheel stickers and the custom-painted frame are nothing new for world champions something particularly noteworthy could be seen on the chainrings fitted to his Y1RS Pogačar has his own (TP) brand logo cut into the Carbon-Ti rings UAE Team Emirates-XRG might be the richest team in the sport right now but that hasn't stopped them from relying on the V4Rs as spare bikes for all of the team except Pogačar The Y1RS still looks to have been produced in such small numbers that the team is yet to have a full fleet that includes spare frames Tyre pressure was the closely guarded secret by mechanics With rain forecast for the early portion of the day and potentially extending to the finish ensuring a tyre pressure that would allow riders the grip and confidence to attack the Poggio descent would be crucial to success at this year's edition Jayco-AlUla were using some of the widest tyres of the day with the relatively new Cadex Aero tyres in a 30 mm width there was plenty of clearance in the Propel's fork Michael Matthews's bike (pictured) was fitted with cSixx chainrings in place of the regular Shimano rings Specialized recently launched some new race tyres with the ever-catchy name of Cotton Folding Racing Only Tire Compared to the competition elsewhere in the bunch the 26 mm tube-only tyres used by Soudal-QuickStep look a little outdated even if the 320 tpi construction is supple and fast In a peloton full of 28- and 30-mm tubeless tyres Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. 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Reviews ethics statement The streets of northwest Italy take center stage once more this weekend as the world's best riders take on the 116th edition of the iconic Milan-San Remo in the first of this season's spring classics Below, we'll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the race live and how to use a VPN if they're not available where you're Last year's race was won in dramatic style by Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck after the Belgian star narrowly defeated the challenge of Michael Matthews and Tadej Pogačar.  Philipsen is back this year as the defending champ but looks set to take a back seat behind teammate Mathieu Van der Poel and his battle against fellow cycling megastar and recent Strade Bianche winner Pogačar in what is set to be the first face-off between the two riders this season.  Taking place over a gruelling 185.2 miles the Milan-San Remo is the longest one-day race on the UCI World Tour.  The 2025 Milan-San Remo takes place on Saturday If you can't view the Milan-San Remo locally you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic It's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.  you're able to virtually change your location on your phone tablet or laptop to get access to the game Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.  ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49% That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee US cycling fans can watch all the action live via Max half an hour before the race starts.  A base Max subscription currently costs $10 per month or $100 per year with ads The platform's top-tier Ultimate ad-free package which gives you access to additional devices and 4K resolution broadcast To watch the Milan-San Remo, you'll need the B/R Sports add-on which is $10 a month but currently bundled free with all Max plans Read our Max review With traditional cycling broadcaster Eurosport no more TNT Sports is now the place to watch UCI event live in the UK TNT Sports now offers UCI cycling events exclusively live this season to viewers in the UK You can access TNT Sports in a number of ways or direct streaming from its range of mobile and smart TV apps It costs £31 either way and comes in a package that includes Discovery Plus' library of documentary content It's good news for cycling fans Down Under, with the 2025 Milan-San Remo set to be broadcast for free in Australia on SBS Viewers can livestream Milan-San Remo coverage on the free-to-use SBS On Demand service The platform has dedicated apps for Android and iOS and you can also access the service on Android TV Dedicated cycling streaming service FloBikes is the place to watch live coverage of this year's race in Canada A subscription to FloBikes currently costs $150 per year (roughly CA$190) which works out at $12.50 per month (roughly CA$16) The service has dedicated apps for Android and Apple devices Viewers also have the option of subscribing on a monthly basis for CAN$30 Scores and Stats » Blog » Milan-San Remo 2025 Odds and Predictions Rick Rockwell Cycling Handicapping MembershipFor More Expert Cycling Picks the 116th edition of the Milan-San Remo will get underway in Northwest Italy The 2025 installment of this Classic is packed with star power including pre-race favorite Tadej Pogacar The Milan-San Remo is one of the oldest races in professional cycling it’s traditionally the first of the five Monument races to mark the calendar Eddy Merckx holds the all-time record with seven wins at Milan-San Remo Last year’s winner Jasper Philipsen is expected to take the starting line this Saturday as well the 2023 Milan-San Remo winner Mathieu van der Poel is also competing this weekend Let’s take a look at the latest cycling odds, courtesy of the top sports betting sites The following stars of cycling are set to take the starting line for the 2025 Milan-San Remo: The 2025 Milan-San Remo can be seen on the usual list of platforms including Eurosport TNT Sports and MAX for North American users Start time is at 4:25am ET and 10:25am local time The 2024 Milan-San Remo race was a thrilling event that saw a bunch sprint at the line after the peloton caught the breakaway in the latter portions of the stage A descent into San Remo saw more attacks from Mohoric it was the peloton’s fastest man Jasper Philipsen that left the rest of the competitors in his wake Michael Matthews came in second place and Pogacar ended up third Mads Pedersen was the best of the non-podium finishers as he came in 4th place where Tadej Pogacar was a massive favorite other riders in the Milan-San Remo are close in odds like Mathieu van der Poel Additionally, previous podium finishers might be appealing to some as their odds are higher than some of the best handicappers expected Let’s take a look at the pre-race favorites for the 116th Milan-San Remo event: Pogacar comes into Milan-San Remo highly motivated to pick up his first ever victory in this race Pogacar has a 12th and three consecutive Top 5 results His best finish came last year when he was third overall When we last saw the sport’s top cyclist, Pogacar was a wounded winner after overcoming a hard crash to win Strade-Bianche two weeks ago but he rode away from the competition after picking himself up off the roads of Italy The Slovenian’s only other appearance this year came in the UAE Tour where he easily won the GC battle after winning two of the seven stages It’s rumored that Pogacar is going to try and compete in many of the upcoming Classics and one-day races Paris-Roubaix is the one that fans and pundits are waiting to hear about I always come back to the same premise when it involves Pogacar that is the fact that the 26-year-old is the man to beat whenever there’s a number on his back.  One man that has the potential to upstage Pogacar at Milan-San Remo is Mathieu van der Poel (MVDP). The 30-year-old just completed Tirreno-Adriatico and looked really good on stages 4 and 5 where he finished in the Top 3 on both Although he didn’t win a stage, van der Poel was pleased with his performance and is focused on the upcoming Milan-San Remo race: which is a victory considering the weather over the past few days I think I found the extra percent I was looking for here it’s mainly a matter of resting and giving myself a challenge now and then in training I feel ready for what’s to come.” this will be his 6th appearance in the Classic race That’s three Top 5 finishes in five of his starts at Milan-San Remo With a solid week of racing under his belt MVDP is definitely a contender to win this race on Saturday Van der Poel’s teammate Jasper Philipsen is the defending race winner at Milan-San Remo and poised to capture a second straight victory if it comes down to a bunch sprint again Philipsen started off the season with a subpar outing at the UAE Tour where he failed to win any of the bunch sprints. He followed that up with a 3rd at Omloop Nieuwsblad just as the critics began doubting Philipsen the Beligan went out and emphatically won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne roughly three weeks ago he’s been in training with his team and MVDP as well Speaking on training with van der Poel, Philipsen credits his teammate with pushing him hard: He stayed nearby and we spent a lot of hours together training I’ve never trained as hard as I did this winter because he was always pushing me [saying] ‘Be there and don’t be two minutes late.’ I need people to motivate me and it was nice to prepare with him It will be interesting to see how Alpecin-Deceuninck handles the upcoming Monument They have two legit contenders to win this race will either man help the other by sacrificing their own chances of winning it seemed that the team did that for Philipsen Or will MVDP get the nod as the leader on the road Denmark’s Mads Pedersen was one of the most impressive riders in Paris-Nice this last week Pedersen also won Stage 6 along with two other Top 4 finishes over this eight-day race Pedersen also won Tour de la Provence in mid-February He swept both the green and yellow jerseys The 29-year-old also finished 2nd in the mountains’ competition As for the Milan-San Remo, Pedersen made the following comments about this weekend’s race: “Going into Milan-San Remo and the other Classics now we just have to stay healthy and keep it going.” I’m not sure if Lidl-Trek team manager Steven de Jongh is being coy or unwilling to put all of his team behind Pedersen but de Jongh said that there will be a number of factors to determine how it all works out at Milan-San Remo The way Pedersen rode in Paris-Nice is a clear sign that he’s more than capable of winning Milan-San Remo on Saturday Pedersen was 4th last year and 6th in both 2022 and 2023 Despite the fact that his teammate and 2021 Milan winner I believe that Pedersen is definitely a podium contender and could even threaten both MVDP and Pogacar for the win Just as impressive as Pedersen was in Paris-Nice INEOS rider Filippo Ganna was as equally impressive in the Tirreno-Adriatico Ganna was in the race lead up until the final climb on Stage 6 which was a huge result for the Italian rider.  It certainly was a big improvement over his 5th place finish at Algarve The powerful sprinter and time-trialist made the following comments about his Tirreno performance: We arrived in the best condition; we worked well this winter We did everything to the best to arrive this spring with the best legs.” With the way that Ganna climbed in the Tirreno-Adriatico he is definitely a threat to win the Milan-San Remo this Saturday The Italian showed that’s he has the legs to limit his losses against the best climbers in the world his sprinting is superior to all of those climbers if he can stay with the leaders until the final kilometers at Milan-San Remo we could see INEOS pick up a much needed win this weekend The following cyclists offer the best betting value based on their current odds I’ve been really impressed with how well Tom Pidcock has performed this season after leaving INEOS for the smaller Q36.5 team the top climbers and the top sprinters over the first few months of 2025 Pidcock finished 6th overall but was also 2nd in the points classification and 3rd in the mountain classification That was a strong result after falling short in Strade-Bianche where Pidcock finished 2nd to Pogacar the Brit does have three stage wins on the season so far he’s really excelled with this wild card team and his confidence is growing with each competition Pidcock’s best result came last year when he finished 11th I believe the 25-year-old is going to pick up his best Milan result of his career this weekend I’m a bit surprised by how large Matej Mohoric’s odds are for this race This weekend’s appearance will mark the 9th of his career was a 2nd overall at the Tour de la Provence Although his next three races were throwaways Mohoric is definitely someone to keep an eye on this weekend then Mohoric could be a podium contender at the very least was last week’s Paris-Nice event where he finished 55th overall Matthews showed his speed with a 2nd in the team time trial on Stage 3 this will be his 12th appearance at Milan-San Remo His best result came last year when he finished 2nd He also has two podium finishes in 2020 and 2015 Matthews has four consecutive Top 6 results in this race The last time we saw Biniam Girmay in a race, he didn’t finish the Algarve last month. So, it will be interesting to see how his form is in the Milan-San Remo. Despite not competing in a race for almost a month, the team’s COO is very confident in Girmay for this weekend’s race: the Monument he dreams of the most this year You can consider it as an extra altitude training camp did everything the trainers asked and his values are also good he returned to Europe and flew straight to Milan he can still explore the course a bit in the coming days.” In his three previous appearances at Milan-San Remo but it sounds like his form is on point and that the 24-year-old could put on his best performance to date It’s clear that Julian Alaphilippe’s (+12500) best days are behind him he still has moments where the French cyclist looks like his old self Alaphilippe looked strong on various stages and helped his teammate Michael Storer pick up a win on Stage 7 It remains to be seen if the 32-year-old is going to be the team captain for Saturday’s race or not This will be his 8th appearance in this race Alaphilippe won the Milan-San Remo in 2019 he hasn’t finished higher than 9th in the last three years a million times; if Pogacar is racing then I’m betting on the Slovenian to win the event this weekend’s race won’t be easy for Pogacar In order to beat the likes of van der Poel Pogacar will need to ensure that this race doesn’t come down to a bunch sprint in the end UAE Team Emirates will need to make the pace hard for most of the day they will need to use every climb as a weapon to dislodge the sprinters Where most races can come down to Pogacar’s speed and climbing abilities It’s going to take tactics and suffering from Tadej to get the victory I’m taking Pogacar to win this race in thrilling fashion It’s going to be an exciting event this weekend The following Milan-San Remo prop bets are courtesy of Bet365: I was very surprised at Mohoric’s odds being as large as they are We’re talking about the 2022 Milan-San Remo winner here when I saw his Top 10 finishing odds at plus money Sure, Mohoric didn’t have an ideal start to the Classics opening weekend. He wasn’t at 100% form and he got sick right before Strade Bianche. However, Bahrain’s unquestioned leader for this race is looking to win this race once again: “I had a difficult approach to Sanremo this year I wasn’t at 100% during Opening Weekend and then got sick just before Strade Bianche I’ve recovered in time for the first Monument of the season My goal on Saturday is to focus as if I can fight for the win in the final Whether that’s possible with my current condition remains to be seen on race day.” Bahrain Victorious’ sports director Franco Pellizotti is far more confident than Mohoric’s comments above Pellizotti recently said that Matej has recovered well and that he’s put in some great training sessions over the last few weeks even though Mohoric is playing coy with his form the team’s sports director has come out firing with his confidence in the team’s leader He also has another 5th place finish in his resume this will be his 9th appearance in Milan-San Remo and has plus-money odds to finish in the Top 10 is a no brainer to wager on for this cycling prop bet The following is a list of recent Milan-San Remo winners: Kyle Buchman Dominates the MLB Leaderboard Despite the unpredictable nature of the MLB Kyle Buchman made betting look easy during this previous week of action 4 Teams Move to Conf. Semifinals, NBA Handicappers Score 91% Win Rate It’s been a wild series so far in the NBA Playoffs and four teams have advanced to the Conference Semifinals Hurricanes Move to Round 2, NHL Handicappers Keep a 75% Win Rate We’re nearing the end of the first Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs Email: [email protected] ScoresAndStats (SAS) is dedicated to providing valuable insights and predictions for beginner and expert sports handicappers Our expert team analyzes various sports markets daily offering free picks and premium predictions for NFL While we strive for accuracy and reliability remember that sports betting involves risks and there are no guarantees of success Best Sportsbooks Reviews Best Pay Per Head Reviews Handicappers Site Reviews Best Handicappers Advertise with Us Work with Us Contact Us Frequently Asked Questions NFL Picks MLB Picks NHL Picks NBA Picks NCAA FB Picks NCAA BK Picks UFC Picks Soccer Picks Golf Picks Tennis Picks Nascar Picks WNBA Picks Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions Strade Bianche spill had a thorny twist: Pogačar resumes training and is on track for Milan-San Remo Tadej Pogačar dodged a bullet in his high-speed spill Saturday, but found himself in a “prickly situation” in the Strade Bianche post-crash fallout UAE Emirates-XRG officials confirmed to Velo that though Pogačar escaped without broken bones or serious injuries His high-speed tumble ended on a prickly bush that left him covered in sticky thorns After returning to his Monaco home and doing a final post-race cleanup Pogačar discovered “dozens and dozens” of pesky little spiky things embedded into his skin that was already shredded with deep gashes Despite the unplanned botanical encounter that helped to soften the landing, Pogačar remains on course for Milan-San Remo next weekend Pogačar may have taken one of the worst spills of his career but it’s going to take more than a thorny spill to derail the Slovenian sensation’s ambitious spring classics campaign UAE officials confirmed to Velo that his post-crash prognosis is overwhelmingly positive considering how bad it could have been A thorough post-race checkup by team doctors revealed no serious injuries or broken bones and doctors decided there was no need to go to a hospital for scans Also read: Niewiadoma, Kwiatkowski crash in nasty edition of Strade Bianche he escaped the high-speed downhill crash with only the highly visible cuts and scrapes No word yet on the status of his $300,000 Richard Mille watch UAE officials also confirmed that Pogačar did not suffer a head injury After a few days of R&R marked by post-crash aches and pains There are no altitude camps or special preparation for the season’s first monument at Milan-San Remo on March 22 and he resumed training Monday from his home base in Monaco Insiders at UAE Emirates-XRG were holding their collective breath all weekend, fearing their franchise rider might have jeopardized not only his spring classics campaign, but even his Tour de France ambitions this summer In 2023, a spill at Liège-Bastogne-Liège left him with a wrist injury that haunted him all the way through his loss to Jonas Vingegaard at that year’s Tour Pogačar seems to have escape relatively unscathed and his mapped-out racing calendar remains in place That means his blockbuster showdowns with Mathieu van der Poel across the Flemish cobbles and later against Vingegaard at the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour are on track Also read: Crashes, XL distance overshadow Strade Bianche One lingering question is whether the crash could have a psychological impact especially with the breakneck descent off the Poggio looming at Milano-Sanremo The high-speed drop into Sanremo is often a full-throttle on-the-rivet sprint down the narrow ribbon of tarmac dust-choked gravel chaos of Strade Bianche last weekend taking down not just Pogačar but also Kasia Niewiadoma and since he lives just down the road in Monaco he can re-familiarize himself with the finale of La Classicissima whenever he wants Pogačar’s spectacular crash Saturday also put the damper on one of the biggest talking points of 2025 and chatter about a possible start a Paris-Roubaix has gone quiet The high-speed tumble may not have left any nagging injuries but it’s poured cold water on the idea of Pogačar tackling the “Hell of the North” anytime soon Enthusiasm for a Roubaix start was already lukewarm inside the UAE bus there’s even less interest for sending their star rider bouncing over the pavé anytime soon Also read: New Porsche, shopping in track suits – inside cycling’s new power couple Speaking to journalists at the finish line Saturday team boss Mauro Gianetti echoed those sentiments: “This race can be too dangerous I told him again there is time to compete in the ‘Hell of the North,’ it’s better to wait and not to do it this year.” the focus remains firmly on Milano-Sanremo Now he just has to pick out those last stubborn thorns Lorena Wiebes took victory in the Sanremo Women 2025 made his bid for glory with an attack on the Cipressa climb 25km from the finish Only van der Poel and Filippo Ganna could stay with the Slovenian who made another break on at the foot of the Poggio. This time, Ganna lost touch with the front two attacking and counter-attacking in a thrilling passage of cycling. As the pace momentarily slowed, the Italian was able to regain contact one kilometre from home. With over 300m to go, van der Poel was there to be shot out as he led out the trio. He kicked from the front early with Ganna and Pogačar in his slipstream, but neither were able to overhaul the 30-year-old who clinched a seventh ‘Monument’ one-day race title. It was a third consecutive win for van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck team after Jasper Philipsen took victory last year. "I knew that Tadej was the strongest on the climbs," said van der Poel afterwards. "When we went down to three, the cooperation was pretty good because it was the podium spots. My finish was on top of the Poggio actually with Tadej. I knew he was going to try and drop me but I felt pretty strong. I hoped I could counter but he was strong enough to get me back. "I knew the other two wanted to make it a long sprint... they probably thought that I was going to make it as short as possible, and I think I surprised them a bit. When I saw the 300m sign, I launched my sprint. I felt strong enough to keep it until the finish line and I think it was the right tactic. "Just winning San Remo is special, but beating those two - they're both incredible riders - so it's an honour for me to be on the podium with them. I'm super happy." Pogačar was magnanimous in defeat, saying, "We stuck to the plan. We did a perfect job, the team was amazing. And I did my best... but Mathieu was just so strong today, and also Pippo. I need to be satisfied with third, but we come next year for more." Earlier, Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx – Protime became the first winner of the Sanremo Women’s race in 20 years The European champion and world bronze medallist came out on top in a bunch sprint, edging compatriot and cycling legend Marianne Vos The 'Primavera' was the first major race for women ending in San Remo in 20 years and covered much of same course It's a wide-open race with a bunch of contenders and a finale that could go any number of ways Trixi Worrack wins the final edition of the Primavera Rosa back in 2005 – the precursor to the women's Milan-San Remo It's been several years in the making but the women's Milan-San Remo is finally back The race was last held in the early 2000s as the Primavera Rosa – more on that in a moment – but this Saturday the women's peloton heads to the Mediterranean coast for the first "Milano-Sanremo Donne" which finishes a couple hours before the men's race you'll be able to find Dane Cash's preview on Escape shortly It's time to get up to speed on the women's race We'll break down the contenders more thoroughly below here are our top favourites for Saturday's race As a rule we try to avoid framing women's racing in terms of its male equivalent – women's racing should stand on its own But in the case of the inaugural Milano-Sanremo Donne using a known quantity to help get our bearings ahead of a "new" race So – where the men's Milan-San Remo is famous for its length – almost 300 km in all – the women's race isn't so extreme it's actually shorter than the Tour of Flanders (168.8 km this year) Where the men's race starts with a lengthy southbound jaunt from Milan to the Mediterranean coast the women's race is a purely coastal affair It kicks off in Genova and runs right down the coast all the way to San Remo the women's MSR is all about a series of climbs in the final hour or so of racing followed by the Capo Cervo (46.4 km) and then the Capo Berta (38.8 km) these three climbs are just a warm-up for the two that really matter: the Cipressa and the Poggio The Cipressa is the longest climb of the day spanning 5.6 km at an average grade of 4.1% The run-in to the climb will be fast and furious as teams try to make sure their leaders are well positioned By the numbers it's easier than the Cipressa – 3.7 km at 3.7% average – but given it's just 5.5 km from the top to the finish in San Remo this is likely to be the most important climb of the race Profiles for the Cipressa (left) and Poggio (right) It's not just the climb of the Poggio that's important. As Georgie Howe wrote in the Wheel Talk Newsletter this week the serpentine descent could also be decisive technical descending to get back down to the coast before a couple kilometres of flat road to the finish A rider who's able to open a gap on the descent could well turn that into victory let's look back at the precursor to this weekend's event: the Primavera Rosa Running for seven editions between 1999 and 2005 this race followed the last 120 km or so of the men's race And while the women's peloton is significantly stronger and more professional than it was 20 years ago it's worthwhile looking at how those seven editions of the Primavera Rosa were decided to give us a sense of what we might be able to expect this weekend: (Shout-out to Cyclingnews' wonderful Autobus archives for the links above.) So that's three reduced bunch sprints and four solo winners the late climbs but flat finish create a fascinating tension: is this a race for the sprinters and how the main favourites play their cards It could be that a solo rider (or small group) gets away on the Cipressa or the Poggio – uphill or downhill It's equally likely that the race ends in a reduced bunch sprint on the Via Roma either because no one was able to get away or because they did and were caught on the run-in the finish So who are the riders we can expect to feature You've probably got some questions about Saturday's race Here you go You can see from the number of names we mentioned up top that there's a whole stack of riders who could be in with a shot of victory But there's a handful of riders that probably have a better shot than most Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) comes in having just won her third edition of Trofeo Alfredo Binda so she deserves a mention right off the bat Binda is a harder and hillier race than Milan-San Remo so if Balsamo is climbing well enough to get over the climbs there and still be in position to win the sprint it's hard to see her getting distanced over the Cipressa and Poggio As Abby Mickey noted in her great Binda breakdown Balsamo will probably want a bit more support in the Milan-San Remo finale than she had last weekend particularly if some riders do manage to get away on the last two climbs and need to be pulled back If it does come down to a reduced bunch kick And we mustn't forget Wiebes's teammate: a certain Lotte Kopecky Milan-San Remo is the Belgian's first race of the year but even with no racing in her legs she's still one of the big favourites for the win She's the sort of rider that can win it in a bunch of different ways she could possibly even get away on her own (although maybe she'd like the Cipressa and Poggio to be a bit steeper?) and she could certainly win it from a bunch kick Which prompts the question: how will SD Worx-Protime play their cards on Saturday My guess: Kopecky to follow any moves from the favourites and make a late attack herself while Wiebes will wait behind for the race to come back together for a bunch kick If both Wiebes and Kopecky are both there are the finish Oh and let's not forget that the Dutch team has Blanka Vas too – the 23-year-old Hungarian was second at Binda behind Balsamo and gives SD Worx-Protime a third great card to play She only started her season at Binda last weekend It might seem like she's been racing (and winning) forever but in 2005 she was only 17 and a year away from making her pro debut You'd have to think that if the race had run continuously since 1999 Vos would have won more than a few editions Her best shot is probably to follow the most dangerous attacks late then win the sprint from small group Who would begrudge the GOAT adding yet another new race to her ridiculously long palmares Note too that Vos has Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in her corner and the Frenchwoman has shown great signs in her first season back on the road (especially with third at Strade Bianche) Expect PFP to take an aggressive approach to allow Vos to bide her time behind She's probably less of a favourite than she would be at other races just because the climbs might not be hard enough for her to get significant separation This is Demi Vollering we're talking about Or maybe she finds a way into a small group over the Poggio and can use her fast finish to beat others on the line FDJ-Suez has another great option in Ally Wollaston The Kiwi has had a great start to the year winning the Surf Coast Classic and Cadel's Race in Australia For a great sprinter she can definitely climb too so for her it'll probably be a case of hanging on over the Cipressa and Poggio and hoping she'll get a chance to sprint from a reduced bunch (ideally sans Wiebes and Balsamo) Like Vollering (and other non-sprinters) the Italian will need to get away from the main bunch to win One of the descents?) or in a very small group and there'd be something very satisfying about the Italian champ winning the first edition of MSR's return there are other races on the calendar that probably suit Longo Borghini better Don't write her off though – she's far too talented to not factor in the race somehow. And don't write off her UAE Team ADQ more generally. As Abby wrote the other day we can almost guarantee they'll be aggressive in the finale Definitely expect the ever-versatile Silvia Persico to be at the fore when it matters most Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) is a name we've mentioned plenty so far this year The Dutch multi-disciplinary star has done five one-day races this year for a worst result of seventh At some point Pieterse is going to win a big one-day race to go with her Tour de France Femmes stage win from last year She's got a great sprint from a small group and she'll definitely be one to watch on the descent off the Poggio one woman who'll surely be trying to ride her rivals off her wheel on the late descents is Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) The reigning Tour de France Femmes champ is back after crashing out of Strade Bianche and if she can get a gap off the Poggio Niewiadoma has a strong team around her too Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig for some earlier aggression Chloe Dygert to make things hard for everyone else in the bike race when she inevitably attacks .. The combination of fast-finishing Alex Manly and the versatile all-rounder Kim Le Court gives AG Insurance-Soudal a couple of great options Even though it's her first race of the year Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) could be dangerous from a late move although the technical descending (particularly if it's wet) will likely work against her Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) is a very versatile sprinter who continues to prove her strength in the one-days has a couple of great cards to play in Liane Lippert – who might be looking for a late move – and 18-year-old Cat Ferguson – last year's junior world champ in the road race and time trial – who sprinted to a very impressive third at Binda last week in what was the first WorldTour race of her career it's a wide-open field with lots of riders that could feature in a race that could finish in any number of ways And that's pretty exciting as the women's Milan-San Remo finally returns to the calendar At this stage, "light rain showers and a moderate breeze" is how the BBC is forecasting Saturday's weather in San Remo Does "moderate breeze" mean the chance of crosswinds There seems to be a possibility of some crosswinds in the first half of the race before the breeze will become more of a tailwind for the finale We're only looking at a wind of around 10-15 km/h though so maybe don't get your hopes up for too much echelon action Particularly given the roads are rarely straight as they wind along the coast making any crosswinds reasonably short-lived As for the rain: it's looking like a roughly 30% chance of seeing some precipitation – low enough to provide comfort to many of the riders if the roads are still wet from earlier rain that could make the fast run-in to the Cipressa quite sketchy so too the descents off the two final climbs it's looking like it will be around 14 ºC (57 ºF) for the last few hours of the race The earliest expected finish is at 2:18pm CET (12:18am AEDT | 7:18am MDT | 9:18am EDT) . Check out the race timetable to work out when best to tune in but be sure to watch at least the last hour The hype for the rebooted San Remo Women might not extend to the prize-purse: Discrepancy to men's Milan-San Remo shows stark reality of gender gap in pro cycling The women’s peloton is feeling the hype for the return of San Remo Women after a 20-year hiatus but they might not be so stoked by the prize purse The winner of the rebooted women’s monument will take home just 11 percent of the winnings — about 10 times less — of the winner of the twinned men’s Milan-San Remo It’s a grim reminder that while women’s pro cycling is growing in scope and exposure The first rider across the finish line Saturday lunchtime at San Remo Women will receive €2,256 ($2,460USD) the MSR winner will pocket a juicy €20,000 ($21,800USD) reward The staggering discrepancy tracks through the total purse up for grabs on either side of the San Remo peloton Race organizer RCS will award a total of €50,000 ($54,550USD) to the top-20 men in Milan-San Remo the total prize pot for the new San Remo Women will be €10,260 ($11,200USD) The Italian federation throws in extra on top of RCS’s contribution bringing the women’s total to €18,800 ($20,500USD) RCS Sport told Velo it’s working to close the chasm in the two payouts “The minimum prize money for the UCI women’s one-day races is €7,500 we start with €10,260 plus the extra prize – only for the women’s race – that will be awarded by Lega del Ciclismo Professionistico,” an RCS representative told Velo It’s worth noting that RCS Sport awarded the same prize of €2,256 to Demi Vollering when she kicked for victory at the 11th Strade Bianche Donne earlier this month The total women’s winnings in Siena were also the same as what will be available to the peloton on Saturday in San Remo For contrast, Sporza reported last spring that Mathieu van der Poel took home €30,000 along with his cobblestone trophy last year at ASO’s Paris-Roubaix Lotte Kopecky won €20,000 (and a hefty cobblestone) when she sprinted her rainbow stripes to victory in the Roubaix velodrome in Roubaix Femmes earlier that weekend — Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 5, 2025 This isn’t throwing RCS Sport under the bus There’s a gender prize gap across much of the sport Tadej Pogačar took home €500,000 for winning the yellow jersey of the Tour de France last summer Kasia Nieiwiadoma earned 10 percent of that (€50,000) for her maillot jaune at the Tour de France Femmes Prize monies are only a fraction of a rider’s earnings in a calendar season What they do win is typically distributed across teammates and staff and Niewiadomas of the peloton earn most of their money on salaries and sponsorship deals But that there’s such an earnings discrepancy at the world-renowned French tours speaks volumes The twinned ASO races are the marquee events and economic powerhouses of the sport Even factoring for the number of race-days at each version of the Tours de France Tour Down Under led the way in awarding equal prize monies to the men at its one-week tour and the women in the partnering three-day race Flanders Classics – owners of the prestigious Tour of Flanders and a number of smaller one-day races – also leveled the gap in 2023 governing body the UCI is nudging mandated minimum women’s salaries northward and pushing for better living and racing conditions for the female peloton both the averages and uppers of female pay are like pocket-money compared to their male counterparts Vollering’s high-profile move to FDJ-Suez this winter was rumored to be the first €1 million contract in women’s road racing Her personal partnership with Nike would pad that considerably Pogačar’s six-year deal with UAE Emirates-XRG is worth a total of around €50 million likely with a range of performance bonuses on top The return of races like San Remo Women will pump more hype into a sport that’s riding the wave of the still-young Tour de France Femmes and Paris-Roubaix Femmes TV revenues and sponsor interest should increase along with that and trickle into the pay-packets of female racers the men’s sport will likely grow just as fast how to watch one-day classic liveThe 2025 World Tour classics season continues with the first Monument of the year on Saturday 22 March while a women's version of the race makes a first appearance in 20 years Also known as "La Classicissima", Milano–Sanremo is also the most sprinter-friendly of the five big monument one-day races, the first big test of spring ahead of the cobbles that will follow in the coming weeks. For the first time in 20 years, a major race for women ending in Sanremo will also be held, as the Sanremo Women race makes its debut on the same day as the men and covering much of the same course. The men will begin in Pavia and the women in Genoa, with both finishing in Sanremo. Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Jasper Philipsen is the men's defending champion. Read on to discover this year's routes, riders to watch, and how you can catch the action. how to watch one-day classic live","tag":"[\"discipline-cycling-road\",\"newsclip\",\"preview\",\"seo-article\",\"schedule\",\"gender-mixed\"]","module_type":"InStoryCampaign","module_title":"Milano–Sanremo and Sanremo Women 2025 preview: Full schedule The men's race will take place over 289km (just under 180 miles) while the Sanremo Women course spans 156km (97 miles) This year's Milano–Sanremo begins in Pavia and at first heads north towards Milan before reaching Certosa where it turns back to the south to follow the traditional route along the SS1 Via Aurelia highway and taking in the long the Sanremo Women starts in Genoa along the Ligurian coast joining the men's course at Voltri from where both races will take the coastal highway towards Sanremo It means both races will take in the triple climbs of Capi Mele as well as the one-two finishing punch of the Cipressa and Poggio di Sanremo the latter coming with just 9km (5.5mi) left in the race Assuming an average race speed of 44 km/h: Assuming an average race speed of 41 km/h: The races will be broadcast on RAI in Italy Trio of contenders had the form but not the fortune in hectic edition of Milan-San Remo classic It’s long been a huge career goal of Michael Matthews to win Milan-San Remo but he’s going to have to wait another year to try The Australian was a close second last year and has also notched up placings of third best of the rest behind Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) It wasn’t just the rampaging pace of that trio my legs were quite lactated all day,” he told journalists at the finish “I think I am really struggling in the cold at the moment “When the sun came out in Nice at the end of Paris-Nice I was better but in the cold weather I am really struggling.” Matthews went back to Australia in the off-season taking a two-week holiday with his wife and daughter It was the latter’s first time in the country and they spent time soaking up the sights including the animals in zoos in Sydney and Brisbane While he didn’t stay on to contest the various races there during the Australian summer he has found it difficult to deal with the European temperatures Much of the early part of Milan-San Remo was very cold and he was hampered more than some of his rivals “Going from such nice weather to racing in this weather is a big change we will get some better weather in the races to come.” Matthews is one of Pogačar’s best friends and the duo regularly train together. He spoke about their relationship in a recent interview with Velo saying the younger rider had rekindled his motivation for the sport He said it was little surprise that the Slovenian went all out on the Cipressa I think it was no secret what he was going to do,” he laughed “But knowing it and following it are two different things “I didn’t know it [his plans] but I think it was his best possibility to win You could see from the bottom when UAE made it hard they were always going to do a move like this They didn’t have the resources to go to the very top so they needed to make it hard from the bottom of Cipressa The leading trio quickly gained a minute on the chasers behind making it extremely unlikely they would be recaptured Matthews asked teammate Filippo Zana to drive the pace on the Cipressa and down the descent to remain close and his Jayco AlUla squad also asked other teams to contribute The problem was the horsepower of those out front it is always going to be hard to catch them,” he said with 43 seconds separating the leaders from a 37-man chase group but it wasn’t the result he has been chasing for his whole career At least Matthews got to sprint for a top-five Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen looked on course to successfully defend his title at the start of this month He was third in Omloop Nieuwsblad and first in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and talked about how well his training had gone The buildup was going great until it wasn’t His prospects took a knock three days before the race when he came down heavily in Nokere Koerse “I was just not feeling great, which was maybe normal after my crash,” he said Saturday afternoon The effects of that were seen on the Cipressa Considering UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s hyper pace early on the climb and Pogačar’s subsequent aggression did that make it a more difficult edition than other years but I don’t know if it was harder than last year’s It certainly was: he eventually rolled in over 16 minutes back It was a long way away from the highs he felt before he and the rest of Alpecin-Deceuninck had something to celebrate Victory for a third year in a row is a very rare feat when Eddy Merckx and Michele Dancelli collected three wins for Molteni I don’t think many teams did it before,” he said we had a goal and we knew Mathieu was in great shape I am just really proud of how we did it and really happy for the team Philipsen and the rest of the riders will have fully soaked up Van der Poel’s success post-race The mood will have been quieter at Q36.5 Procycling The squad lined out with real hopes of success with Tom Pidcock The Briton came on board over the winter and has transformed the team’s fortunes with four wins thus far plus second behind Pogačar in Strade Bianche Speaking to CyclingProNet before Saturday’s race he confirmed he considered himself as being a top favorite for the race “I am definitely in good shape. I am motivated, I want to win,” he said just because you put time in doesn’t mean it will work things went askew just as the race was heating up “289 km of racing with space for a few mistakes,” his team stated on social media we saw ourselves on the other side of luck at the foot of Cipressa with a small crash involving [Pidcock] before attacks kicked off The British star eventually finished at the back of the Matthews group he was succinct in his assessment of the race “Lying on the floor while the race started On Sunday he updated with a more upbeat tone A post shared by ᵀᴼᴹ ᴾᴵᴰᶜᴼᶜᴷ (@tompidcock) Pogačar ignites Milan-San Remo on the Cipressa but can't drop Van der Poel and Ganna ahead of three-up showdown on the Via Roma Mathieu van der Poel launched a huge sprint to deny Tadej Pogačar and Filippo Ganna in Milan-San Remo The world champion and UAE Emirates blew apart the Cipressa climb but couldn’t drop Ganna or 2023 San Remo winner MVDP Those three were clear after the summit and far ahead of a fragmented peloton The rainbow skinsuited Slovenian lunched another storm of attacks on the Poggio but couldn’t make the difference in what was a wild final of “La Primavera.” He blew Ganna out of the water early on and had Van der Poel under pressure at times but still had the Alpecin-Decuninck rider for company close to the top Indeed Van der Poel launched his own move just before summit but Pogačar was able to close him down Ganna was distanced but never gave up hope acing the descent and joining them with 800 meters to go and held on to take an emotional—and well deserved—victory Ganna was second while Pogačar had to settle for third “It is hard to believe,” Van der Poel said “I was really focused on trying to get the win but we knew Tadej was going to be really strong,” he said The beginning was horrible with the rain and the cold but when we came down to the coast “It is the third year in a row that we won with the team Pogačar has been trying for years to win the race and gave it everything on the uphills Van der Poel was visibly suffering at times but was willing to knuckle down with the world champion when asked to collaborate “I knew Tadej was the strongest on the climbs He was confident in his sprint and revealed that he had a different endpoint to focus on “My finish was on the top of Poggio with Tadej I hoped I could counter but he was strong enough to get me back.” The duo rode together on the descent but didn’t fully commit This enabled Ganna to return and made the final gallop to the line more tactical “I knew the other two wanted to make it a long sprint,” Van der Poel said explaining his decisions inside the final kilometer “They probably thought I was going to make it as short as possible “I think I surprised them a bit when I saw the 300 meters sign I felt strong enough to keep it until the finish line With his second win in three years as the outcome Milan-San Remo is the longest of the classics with 289 kilometers to cover but this didn’t deter the day’s aspiring breakaway riders from hitting the gas early on The big move began inside the first ten kilometers with three riders going clear and subsequently being joined by five more They quickly got five minutes but the gap was trimmed back to a more manageable three minutes topping the Passo del Turchino with 150km remaining The Alpecin-Deceuninck team had the past two winners in their ranks They were joined by other squads in ramping up the pace heading towards the Cipressa and caught the last of the day’s escapees Martin Marcellusi (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè) right at the base of the climb who needed to whittle down the rivals as soon as possible Tim Wellens went flat out on the early slopes sending defending champion Philipsen out the back Wellens exploded with 25.5km to go but was immediately replaced by Jhonatan Narvaez who set a frantic pace and acted as a launchpad for his team leader Pogačar then surged 3km from the summit and 24.7km from the finish Van der Poel started contributing at times while Ganna was distanced but was able to rejoin on the flatter roads 900 meters away from the summit It was a cool 32 seconds ahead of the depleted bunch at the top then up to over a minute with just over 12km to go The three leaders carried an advantage of 45 seconds into Poggio Pogačar didn’t want to bring either of his two breakaway companions to the finish and immediately began his attacks at the base of the climb Ganna was instantly dropped but continued chasing several seconds back Pogačar kicked again soon afterwards and opened a bike length over Van der Poel only to lose that advantage on a hairpin bend then fired another burst with 1.3km to the top However the Dutchman was gaining confidence and launched his own move with 500 meters to go He got several bike lengths but was reeled in They swapped turns on the curving downhill but weren’t as fully committed as Ganna behind The Italian was 12 seconds back with 3.5km remaining just eight seconds back at the end of the descent Things became very cagey; Pogačar dropped back several lengths to try to accelerate into the sprint He launched his finishing effort 300 meters out and held off a hard-chasing Ganna but beating those two…they are both incredible riders,” he said “So it is an honor for me to be on the podium with them a podium finish may become like a win for anyone not named Pogačar or Van der Poel It has been said for years that Milan-San Remo is the easiest race to finish winning at MSR is the only thing that matters Everyone knows that they can finish the race It feels like going into battle without enough ammunition or a reliable map brace yourself for the inevitable suffering The race typically allows a breakaway to escape easily settles into a steady tempo until after the Passo del Turchino then ramps up along the coast road until the bottom of the Cipressa where the race finally gets exciting with 30km to go this year looked to be the same 300km race just for a 300m sprint but we were treated to something spectacular We have been waiting for years to see someone launch from this far out. UAE perfectly executed their plan, and Tadej Pogačar made his move at a very strategic moment I could not believe that anyone could stay on his wheel and it would only be a matter of time before that group thinned out even more First it was Romain Grégoire from Groupama-FDJ who totally blew, then Ganna from Ineos dropped off the pace, leaving only Mathieu van der Poel able to hold Pogačar’s wheel making a three-man group of absolute hitters in the front When they crested the top and began the descent I was shocked to see the gap at 40 seconds I never thought that I would see the day where three riders were able to make that big of a difference against such a stellar field on the Cipressa Pogačar began launching powerful attacks which dropped Ganna It felt like watching a heavyweight boxing match but Van der Poel absorbed the blows like the champion he is and suddenly counter-attacked When Van der Poel went over the top of Pogačar’s last acceleration with 500m to go from the top of the Poggio I believe that every cycling fan in the world was in awe This was not just a physical masterpiece that we were all witnessing Two of the best riders in the world battling it out on the road is why we should realize that we are living in a special time in the history of cycling I can only think of the psychological impact this must have had on Pogačar as it is rare that we see anyone put him to the sword I was glad to see that Pogačar and Van de Poel didn’t take any risks on the descent allowing the determined Ganna to return to the front as the three warriors of the day jostled for position Sprinting after 300km is vastly different from sprinting after 200km so I couldn’t quite understand this tactic Van der Poel must have felt like he hit the lottery with 300m to go already having a sizable gap to Pogačar and Ganna on the other side of the road He looked in total control of the situation His decision to launch so early seemed to catch the others off-guard before they could employ whatever tactic they had in mind and he easily won Milan-San Remo for the second time in three years but I can’t stress enough how fortunate we are to experience such thrilling moments from the amazing riders of this generation Just when you think it can’t get any better fourth place finisher Michael Mathews said “we didn’t come here for fourth.” While that sentiment is true it made me wonder… When Van der Poel and Pogačar are in top form and competing in the same race during the upcoming classics are other teams and riders beginning to think that a podium finish is the best they can hope for Milan-San Remo this year was nothing short of spectacular and will be remembered for years to come but with the breaking news that Pogačar has decided to participate in Paris-Roubaix this year will we be treated to a rematch and even better race in a few weeks and more: Here are some outrageous-but-possible finales that embrace the uncertainty of 'La Primavera.' Milan-San Remo they say it’s “the easiest race to finish It’s also the toughest race to predict a raid down the Via Roma … who knows Anything’s possible in what is the longest most boring-but-brilliant race on the men’s calendar Here are five outrageous scenarios that could actually happen six hours after Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Tom Pidcock roll out for Saturday’s “Classicissima“: The Poggio is screaming for a bonkers Tom Pidcock descending attack The audacious Brit did nearly escape the bunch with a downhill manouver on his 2021 San Remo debut, after all. Just one year later, Matej Mohorič proved the Poggio was a prime attack point with his dropper-post heist a wild solo descent might be Pidcock’s best chance this weekend Pidders learned the hard way last year he doesn’t have the horsepower for a rogue attack down the Via Roma And while Pidcock is on hot form and packs a fast finish not even he would back himself for a small sprint against six-star favorites MVDP and Pogi Pidcock’s insane 80kph+ descent off the precipitous 2700m Galibier at the Tour de France was on the 2022 season highlights reel Here’s hoping he puts Poggio’s hairpin bends and nail-bitingly narrow streets into the spotlight this spring in a similar fashion Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan in a two-up pursuit down the Via Roma It’s the finale that Italy’s nonnas have been dreaming of every night since the New Year Ganna and Milan are an Italian two-of-a-kind These strapping stallions crush track pursuits Ganna and Milan could both swat away even the speediest in a Via Roma bunch kick but these huge horsepower stars would slash their odds considerably with a kilometer canter down Italian cycling’s most iconic street Ganna even primed the legs for a San Remo raid with a similar attack last week at Tirreno-Adriatico. The only thing better than Ganna or Milan rolling the dice with a dash down the Via Roma If the two trackie teammates do it together in an all-Italian drag race Tadej Pogačar couldn’t possibly be the first rider in 29 years to attack on the Cipressa and stay away Well, we said similar last season about the chance of Pogi being the first male in 37 years to earn the “triple crown,” and look how that worked out The world has pondered a Pogačar attack over the Cipressa every year since his wildly impressive 2020 Milan-San Remo debut not even the jack-in-a-box baller has had the cojones to try it out Pogačar has tried to spray his rivals with attacks His San Remo dreams were thwarted by the sprinters last year Going long would cut Van der Poel from the Poggio and rid the Via Roma of the speedsters but Pogačar has the legs to go solo from the Cipressa Just look at his 100km raid on road worlds or the 80km solo escape at last year’s Strade Bianche Marco Pantani made a flamboyant solo attack on the Cipressa in 1999 It seems only reasonable that a rider of Pantani’s panache – i.e Pogačar – would also give it a serious try If a big group keeps together over the Poggio, don’t count out Paul Magnier Magnier has never raced a monument or experienced the marathon mileage of Milan-San Remo he’s not faced the full wrath of Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel the Frenchman will be one of the burliest to hit the base of the Poggio on Saturday afternoon But anything can happen in the mysterious sixth hour of monument racing After a string of second-places this winter – including when he beat Van Aert and Philipsen but was denied by an outsider at the Omloop – maybe the grande casino of San Remo will spin things in Magnier’s favor Tadej Pogačar vs Mathieu van der Poel in a straight shoot-out down the Via Roma They’re the two “bigs” of world bike racing and the sport’s most exciting stars. Better still, it seems that only Pogi can beat MVDP, and only MVDP can beat Pogi. The chances of such a scenario are as slim as finding a cappuccino after 11 a.m Ganna rues error in sprint: ‘I was in the red zone…the brain doesn’t work really well’ The Italian rider showed huge courage and commendable determination in the race being dropped on both the Cipressa and on the Poggio and yet fighting his way back to an eventual second place stubborn performance and one which will have earned him many new supporters “For sure tonight I dream again of this race,” a tired but satisfied Ganna told Cycling Pro Net in a post-race video interview “I think I did one of my best performances ever.” riding with great flair in Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this month led the race until the end of stage six and finally finished second overall Not bad for a rider weighing more than 80 kilos and on a very testing course He and Van der Poel were the only riders able to contain Pogačar when he went on the rampage on the Cipressa Ganna eventually slipped back under the weight of the Slovenian’s attacks but he kept his composure continued pushing onwards and rejoined the leading duo inside the final kilometer of the climb He helped with the pacesetting between there and the start of the Poggio Pogačar has long viewed the race as a major target While a tougher course would make his task more straightforward he has been trying to work out a way to finally win La Primavera Going flat out on the Cipressa and the Poggio were his game plan and while the pace twice gapped Ganna He said part of that drive came from his team “I think also the public on the road gave me an extra boost to not lose the motivation Ganna went over the summit a considerable way back but made constant inroads into the lead on the descent Part of that was due to Pogačar and Van der Poel not being as committed; part of that was due to the risks he took I tried to chase full gas before coming back on the downhill,” he said it doesn’t matter.’ I gained some seconds on the downhill and then on the flat I tried coming back.” tucking in behind the two other riders inside the final kilometer just before the finishing sprint played out If Ganna does indeed dream of the race later or if he at least replays the finish online or even in his mind’s eye late Saturday evening he will ponder how things might have been different in the end Second to Van der Poel and ahead of Pogačar is a fine result particularly given that he was twice distanced during the race but he knows things might have been different Van der Poel moved to the left side of the road inside the final 500 meters and had not enough time to respond when the Dutchman suddenly jumped He closed all the way to the line but ran out of road to get by “Maybe the only mistake [in the race] is not trying to anticipate Van der Poel,” he said I tried to do the best but sometimes it is really hard “I’m happy but obviously I am the first of the losers obviously some big champions needed 14 years before a win But I have to do it early because I don’t think my career can be as long as this.” what’s most important is the grit he showed and how he stretched his limits to achieve such a big result “I did one of the best performances of my life,” he said thank you to the staff for believing in me velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-ra… [image or embed] — VELO (@velo-velo-velo.bsky.social) 22 March 2025 at 17:14 World champion will make Tour de France GC a key objective for first time in her career without losing focus on classics: 'We are curious how far we can go.' The first edition of San Remo Women will be a hugely prestigious event, but that hasn’t stopped Lotte Kopecky from taking an unconventional approach to it The world road race champion will line out at the start with zero racing kilometers in her legs this season choosing to make her 2025 debut in the event Is it necessary to use races to have the necessary condition to win the biggest events in the sport If Kopecky has calculated things correctly she will be able to hit the ground running “It was always the plan to start only in Milan San Remo to have a bit more easy buildup,” she told Velo and other journalists recently “But I crashed last year in Simac and the load I had afterwards it seemed it was a little bit more inconvenient than we thought I also needed to be a little bit easier because of some difficulty in my knee “That is why we really stayed with this plan to start with Milan San Remo and not earlier.” Most riders will compete in a number of events before a key objective Kopecky did say she planned to go to an altitude hotel beforehand and has been training hard in Spain But will she be sharp enough? Many of those she will be up against in San Remo already have multiple days of competition in their legs. Former teammate Demi Vollering has seven days of racing to her credit Kopecky’s teammate Lorena Wiebes also has a week of competition done if Kopecky needs encouragement that she can be good right out of the blocks She first raced in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad The women’s racing scene is continuously evolving Both teams and events are far more professional than before with race organizers also taking things more seriously The race did exist before in a different guise with the Primavera Rosa taking place between 1999 and 2005 However the new iteration is more closely aligned with Milan-San Remo having an almost identical name and being longer than the prior editions “I’m happy that the race is added to the calendar,” she said “It is a race I actually like a lot [to watch] for the men’s That final takes place over the famous Poggio climb with riders taking in the punchy ascent prior to plummeting down the tricky descent into San Remo explosive rider and—on paper at least—seems ideally suited to that kind of effort it will not be as explosive as it is with the men’s because for us it will take a little bit longer but still I think it’s a very nice final climb it gives opportunities for a lot of riders “I think it’s a really nice race for our team SD Worx Protime.” Year one will see the women compete over 156 kilometers considerably less than the 289 km men’s race I think would be nice to have a 200 kilometer race,” Kopecky said noting that this would make the Poggio more selective “But I’m happy that the race is added to the calendar.” Kopecky will chase multiple targets throughout the year with the Classics again being very important to her She is a past winter of races such as Paris-Roubaix Femmes the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Strade Bianche Donne and will have big ambitions again this season She was runner up in the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and finished in the same slot in last year’s Giro d’Italia Donne But I came second twice now in a grand tour without specific preparation for them,” she said “Of course we are curious how far we can go there if we make a goal of it.” Grand tours are often won in the high mountains Kopecky is a punchier rider than the last two winners of the Tour and while this serves her very well on shorter climbs she would need to develop her abilities on much longer ascents She doesn’t believe that this would necessarily detract from what she is already best at I think I have been able to manage it pretty well to keep those components balanced between being explosive and climbing well,” she said “Maybe we will try to climb a little bit better and then maybe we will be a little less explosive But then still I will be one of the more explosive riders in the bunch is to knuckle down to that type of training once her initial focus is done and then we’ll try to have the best possible preparation towards the Tour de France.” in terms of the top names in the sport and how it will all play out Last year things were much more straightforward. Annemiek van Vleuten had retired, Anna van der Breggen and Pauline Ferrand Prévôt were yet to return and SD Worx Protime still had—on paper at least—the strongest squad in the sport Vollering and Lorena Wiebes were three stars on the same team and clocked up a staggering 53 victories between them Vollering felt a lack of support in the Tour de France Femmes and exited for FDJ Suez Ferrand Prévôt has come back to the road will spearhead a big drive by Visma Lease a Bike to win the Tour while Van der Breggen has come out of retirement and will have a leadership role with SD Worx Protime It remains to be seen how Kopecky will fit into all of that The biggest question is perhaps how she will handle being rivals with Vollering but I think it is important to just focus on ourselves,” she said “There is more than Demi Vollering in the peloton so we will not try to focus too much on her.” she says she has ‘no idea’ if the mountain bike star will be a major contender in her return to this aspect of the sport Kopecky will wish to at least equal her tally of 2024 and is something she will work hard towards once the classics are done That does inevitably raise questions about how she and Van der Breggen will sync together but their abilities overlap sufficiently that they will be chasing many of the same goals However Kopecky has her fingers crossed that all will be fine we are doing very well together,” she said “I hope we can have a smooth time racing together so I think she is still able to have a nice extension of her career Wiebes is of course another rider with whom she might overlap The European champion is more of a pure sprinter but she has enough versatility to win on some selective courses “I think we have different goals,” she said I think everything went pretty smoothly between the two of us “As long as we know from each other what we want Kopecky will be counting down the hours to San Remo both literally and also during the race itself She’d dearly love to win the first edition of the new version and doing so in the rainbow jersey of world champion would make things all the better she is aware that she is an icon for many in the sport And that’s particularly the case for young Belgian riders Being a role model for that generation is a motivation to her it’s really important to be an example,” she said “Sometimes I do not really realize how much they look up to me or how much things they want to learn That’s something I think is really important.” Part of that example is rising to challenges The drive to be better sees her want to extend her limits to aim for victories in races such as the Tour de France It also sees her embrace the changing landscape within the sport SD Worx used to be steps above the other teams but a rising level plus a diversification of talent is making things harder to predict “For women’s cycling it is a good thing that riders are more in different teams,” she said perhaps referring to Vollering and also Ferrand Prévôt’s return “I just try to work hard myself and to make sure that I’m ready for it because it’s going to be a very nice fight.” Here’s all you need to know about this weekend’s Milan-San Remo and San Remo Women: [image or embed] — VELO (@velo-velo-velo.bsky.social) 19 March 2025 at 08:14 The first women's MSR in two decades gave us lots to think about as the Classics roll on It's been a few days now since the first women's Milan-San Remo in 20 years. A few days since Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) sprinted to a commanding victory after an electrifying finale on approach to San Remo let's take a look back at the race and the things that are still on our minds a few days later Before we begin, if you haven't already checked out Kit Nicholson's race report and wonderful gallery (the latter combining the women's and men's races) And be sure to listen out for the Wheel Talk Podcast in the coming days where the team will break down the race in detail I don't think anyone really expected much action until the final two climbs – the Cipressa and the Poggio – but it wasn't until after the Cipressa that things really heated up the pace was on as the riders approached that penultimate climb .. Already have an account? Sign in World champion Kopecky sacrifices her chances to set up small-group finish in first women's San Remo in 20 years Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes snatched victory in San Remo Women on Saturday outsprinting Marianne Vos and others in a reduced group sprint Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) put in a brilliant attack with just over 2km remaining and looked on course for victory, but Wiebes’ SD Worx-Protime teammate Lotte Kopecky dedicated herself to dragging back the Italian champion Vos opened things up but lost out to Wiebes in a drag race to the line with Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) taking third American Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) was seventh Wiebes was delighted with the result and confirmed she had believed a bunch sprint was possible I felt already good on the Cipressa,” she said “Also on the Poggio I was with the first five or something at the top “Longo Borghini did a really strong attack but I saw Lotte was close behind I am super grateful to her for what she did in the final The San Remo Women was the first edition of the relaunched race and came 20 years after a similar event was last run The Primavera Rosa also finished in San Remo and was held seven times before coming to an end It began in Genoa and covered 156km to San Remo taking in five of the same climbs as the men’s race as well as the Cipressa and the famous Poggio A 5.5km descent and flat run to the finish followed With 85km to go Anne Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team) got clear there and opened a lead of two and a half minutes over the peloton Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi) and Virginia Bortoli (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) tried to get across but were unable to bridge The race was back together by the Capo Cervo and sped onwards towards the start of the Cipressa Canadian champion Olivia Baril (Movistar Team) and Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) fell with the latter’s teammate Letizia Paternoster and another from the squad crashing very soon afterwards with perhaps 50 riders still in contention there World champion Kopecky looked particularly comfortable on the Cipressa but Olympic MTB champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot pushed the pace on the descent but Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) Blanca Vas (SD Worx Protime) and the other leaders were attentive and remained close to her That saw a dozen riders move clear with many of the key names present However they didn’t commit and there was a regrouping with 15km left The slowing of pace gave riders a brief breather but the speed inevitably ramped up again before the start of the Poggio Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM) led early on giving up her own chances for Kasia Niewiadoma and Chloe Dygert Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) surged with 6.5km left Niewiadoma countered and was in turn countered by Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) then moved to the front right at the summit and led into the descent using her bike-handling skills to try to eke out a gap The elastic didn’t snap but Vollering pushed the pace once again to try to create daylight Longo Borghini then seized her chance with just over 2km to go and launched a blistering attack The move looked decisive and the Italian champion appeared poised for an emotional win The latter said she remained confident heading into the final kilometer “I know how strong Lotte is and she brought me in a perfect position,” she said with Longo Borghini overpowered with 200 meters left and a Vos versus Wiebes drag race playing out “I need to say Vos surprised me a little bit but it was enough for the win,” said Wiebes The race is newly returned to the calendar and will take time to get fully established However Wiebes said the victory ranks ‘really high’ amongst her career successes After Strade I stayed here in Italy and I had really good preparation With a distance of 298 kilometers (185 miles) the Milan-Sanremo is the longest professional one-day race in modern cycling Van der Poel and Pogačar go head to head in 'La Primavera' is the longest one-day race on the cycling calendar and the first of the five Monuments to be contested each year and all eyes are on Pogačar The million dollar question is when will he launch attack on the Cipressa some 25km from the finish to try and achieve something that hasn't worked since Gabriele Colombo broke free in 1996 The first Monument of the season runs from the center of Milan to the coastal resort of San Remo over 289 kilometers It’s true that nothing much happens race wise for the first six hours but when the race hits the twin climbs of the Cipressa and Poggio but they don't get it: it’s about the wait the hours of anticipation and then the climax combined with the unpredictability that make this race so utterly compelling The 2025 edition will play host to this year’s first head to head of cycling’s two mega stars Mathieu Van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar Van der Poel has already won the race once back in 2023 but Pogačar is yet to add it to his resume and is desperate to succeed here in what is arguably the hardest race to win every single star must align if you want to take ‘La Classicissima di Primavera’ It won’t be just a race between Van der Poel and Pogačar though as any number of riders could win if they make the right decision at exactly the right time Last year’s winner Jasper Philipsen returns again as the back up plan for Van der Poel and if it does come down to a bunch sprint he will have Jonathan Milan Olav Kooij and Biniam Girmay pushing him all the way If the race goes to an opportunist then look for the likes of Thomas Pidcock 15 kilometres away from the base of the Cipressa and the early break still has 2.5 minutes but this will soon evaporate as the pace is about to hit lightspeed behind Read on for everything you need to know to watch the Milan-San Remo live stream from anywhere If you live in Australia then you can look forward to a FREE Milano-Sanremo 2025 live stream on SBS on Demand You 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Head to SBS or another streaming service and watch the action A subscription to the service will set you back $10 per month or $100 per year with ads or $21/$210 for the 'Ultimate' ad-free package which includes additional devices and 4K resolution where available you'll need the B/R Sports add-on - $10 a month but currently bundled free with all Max plans With Eurosport no longer available in the U.K. the only place to catch the cycling action is now on TNT Sports which has pretty much every race you could wish to want for those in Canada costs $39.99 a month or $203.88 for the year only Canadian customers get access – the US arm of Flobikes doesn't have the rights to Milan-San Remo DisclaimerWe test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service) Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing you will then be prompted to enter your display name Nail-biting Cipressa-Poggio combo confirmed as organizers reveal full details of reborn Italian monument Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering, and the Cipressa-Poggio thrill-fest: The reborn San Remo Women has put the pieces in place for the best finale of 2025 Organizers RCS Sport revealed Wednesday the detail of the first monument of the women’s season The inaugural edition of the reborn “Primavera Classic” – the race which existed from 1999-2005 – will roll 160km from Genoa and over all the best bits of the partnering men’s race 3.7 percent slopes of the Poggio are all there With Italian cycling queen Elisa Longo Borghini and former teammates Kopecky and Vollering all on the startlist the Cipressa-Poggio finale will be one that cannot be missed How will the peloton tackle its first time racing up the Poggio’s do-or-die slopes Will Kopecky and Vollering rekindle the rivalry that ravaged SD Worx in the nail-biter dash down San Remo’s sprawling Via Roma No amount of route recon can prepare riders for the most nerve-jangling adrenaline-pumping 30km of modern bike racing the San Remo Women won’t be the longest of the Women’s WorldTour The Tour of Flanders pips its monument rival at 163km And unlike the Paris-Roubaix Femmes, San Remo Women won’t be afforded a separate day on the calendar from its twinned men’s race the women’s Classicissima will roll out of Genoa on the same morning as the men ride out of Milan and the galloping bunch should hit the finish line in San Remo at around 14:30 CET – two hours ahead of Tadej Pogačar and the men RCS Sport also confirmed Wednesday the San Remo Women should see two hours of live broadcast coverage meaning viewers get a double-dose of the Poggio’s slopes in one day The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider survived several attacks from the World Champion to win La Classicissima ahead of Filippo Ganna in three-way sprint with the Dutchman emerging victorious in the sprint to the line on the Via Roma The explosive finale kicked off on the slopes of the Cipressa as Pogačar’s squad launched the Slovenian’s inevitable attack with 25km to go Ganna and Van der Poel were the only ones able to follow the searing acceleration as he attacked again They then worked together to stay away until the foot of the Poggio when Pogačar went again but it was not enough to shake Van der Poel who held the wheel on Pogačar’s preferred terrain They were neck-and-neck as they began the twisting descent towards San Remo with both riders knowing it would come down to a sprint A brief lull in the pace towards the finish allowed Ganna to chase his way back on before the sprint An impressive kick meant that neither Pogačar nor Ganna were able to come around him as he took his second victory at La Classicissima Ganna held off Pogačar for second place with the World Champion having to settle for third place after all of his efforts.  Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) won the sprint behind for fourth place ahead of his compatriot Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in yet another top-10 result for the Australian rider at the race "It's hard to believe," Van der Poel said in a post-race interview but we knew that Tadej was going to be really strong The beginning was horrible with the rain and the cold but when we came down to the coast I felt better and better It is the third year in a row that we won with the team Van der Poel said he was able to respond to Pogačar's attacks even though he felt that the World Champion was the strongest of the three on the final climbs "I knew Tadej was the strongest on the climbs I hoped I could counter but he was strong enough to get me back." "I knew the other two wanted to make it a long sprint They probably thought I would make it as short as possible so I surprised them a bit when I saw the 300-metre sign I launched my sprint and felt strong enough to keep it to the finish line." Beginning in cold and wet conditions at the start in Pavia the peloton was a sea of black rain jackets and wet weather clothing as they rolled out for the neutral start When the flag dropped for the official start of the race a few kilometres later attacks to get into the breakaway began immediately with the Italian wildcard teams particularly keen to get numbers up the road A few attempts to go clear failed to materialise early on before a three-rider move comprising Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) Tommaso Nencini (Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) went up the road They were then joined by a four-man group of Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) Mark Stewart (Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini) Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto) and the youngest rider in the race Filippo Turconi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) with Kristian Sbaragli (Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini) bridging across solo to make it eight riders at the head of the race Gone are the days when the peloton would allow the early breakaway upwards of ten minutes of an advantage at Milan-San Remo as the gap to today’s escapees never went above six minutes The man in charge of controlling that gap throughout the day was Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) working for his teammates Mathieu van der Poel and last year’s winner Jasper Philipsen The Swiss rider kept the breakaway’s advantage to around four minutes for the majority of the race riding on the front of the peloton for more than 200km All of the favourites’ teams had riders positioned towards the front of the main group but none wanted to commit riders to the chase with Dillier content to do all of the work As they reached the slopes of the Passo del Turchino with around 150km to go the gap to the breakaway began to rapidly decrease falling to under three minutes as the teams in the peloton looked to position themselves ahead of the climb and the descent that was to follow After they summited the early climb and began the descent down the other side towards the Ligurian coast the gap to those at the front began to re-establish itself Dillier was still the one on the front of the peloton keeping the breakaway in check at around four minutes of an advantage The peloton then wound their way along the coast towards the Tre Capi climbs with Dillier finally finishing his turn on the front of the group in the approach to the Capo Mele with Geraint Thomas leading them through the towns that line the Italian seaside The breakaway hit the Capo Mele at 53km to go with Nencini the first to be dropped from the group He was swallowed up by the peloton as the gap fell to around two minutes over the top of the climb A small crash in the peloton with around 50km to go saw the likes of Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) hit the deck A puncture for Jasper Philipsen also saw him fall to the back of the peloton with all four riders able to make their way back onto the bunch The Capo Cervo then followed before they reached the Capo Berta The breakaway began to fracture at the front of the race with Marcellusi going solo over the top we started to see the first riders dropped from the peloton on the steep gradients as UAE Team Emirates-XRG began to come to the fore to position Tadej Pogačar Marcellusi was the last of the breakaway to be caught with 27km to go as a small crash between two riders saw many held up at the back of the peloton Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) began to ramp up the pace as they began the penultimate climb of the race dropping last year’s winner Philipsen from the peloton The Belgian emptied the tank for his Slovenian leader on the lower slopes before Jhonathan Narváez took up the pacing he did an all-out sprint to launch Pogačar’s inevitable attack on the Cipressa Many attempted to follow the World Champion’s acceleration but only Filippo Ganna and Mathieu van der Poel were able to follow when he went again towards the top of the climb The leading trio worked well together on the descent as they began the run toward the Poggio exchanging turns to maintain their advantage over the bunch behind They reached the foot of the final climb with a gap of around 45 seconds as Pogačar accelerated again through the first hairpin unable to match the immediate acceleration of the other two whilst Van der Poel stayed glued to the wheel of the World Champion as he tried to drop him again and again through each of the turns Van der Poel then tried his own attack with 500m to go until the summit and whilst he was able to briefly distance his rival it was not enough to snap the elastic and both riders accepted that the race would ultimately be decided in a sprint on the Via Roma The twisting downhill towards San Remo saw Ganna claw back some ground on the two at the front who seemed slightly less willing to fully commit on the descent and the Italian now had them in his sights as they began the run-in to the finish He made the junction with around one kilometre to go making it a three-way fight for the victory as they entered the final few hundred metres on the Via Roma Pogačar forced Van der Poel to the front as he slotted in at the back of the group behind the returning Ganna Unwilling to wait for the other two to make their moves Van der Poel launched his sprint from the front catching Ganna somewhat off-guard and using his kick to instantly open up a small gap The Italian was unable to match the Dutchman’s acceleration With neither of them able to come around him Van der Poel took an emphatic victory and claimed the sixth Monument title of his career winning Milan-San Remo for the second time in three years Results powered by FirstCycling The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox! Joseph Lycett is a freelance writer for Cyclingnews and has been covering professional cycling since 2022 writing for outlets such as Cycling Weekly regularly racing in his local crit races and time trials All the broadcast information for the first Monument of the 2025 season Watch Milan-San Remo on March 22 to see the men’s – and women's – WorldTour peloton in action at the first Monument Classic of the 2025 season with all the details here on live streams and TV channels wherever you are in the world The race marks the continuation of the WorldTour season as top-class pelotons of men and women riders head to Italy to take on La Classicissima a race to the coast over the famous climbs of the Cipressa and Poggio ► Free stream: RAI Play (Italy) What will be the first edition of the Milan-San Remo Women will see a list of the sport's biggest stars lining up in Genoa to take on the 156km course down the coast – including the traditional appointments at the Tre Capi The men's race will follow a 289km course from Pavia near Milan down to San Remo with all the famous closing climbs featuring as well as the Passo del Turchino as well as free live streaming options for Milan-San Remo Read on for all the details on how to watch Milan-San Remo online The 2025 edition of Milan-San Remo will have free-to-air coverage for viewers in a number of countries Fans in Australia can watch Milan-San Remo on SBS after the national broadcaster added the event to its offering. Live streaming for both the men's and women's Milan-San Remo will be hosted on the streaming platform SBS On Demand In Italy, coverage of the most famous Italian Classic is, as ever, available to watch on public broadcaster RAI – both the men's and women's races will be shown on RAI 2, with live streaming available via RAI Play which is a simple browser player without account registration.  In Belgium, the races will go out on French-language public broadcaster RTBF's main channel, La Une, as well as on their free streaming service, Auvio but you can get your usual coverage while travelling by using a VPN – more on that below If you're outside your usual country when Milan-San Remo is on you might think you can’t watch the race due to the geo-restrictions most streaming platforms impose But a VPN is a simple and safe way around this.  A Virtual Private Network is a piece of software that sets your IP address to make your device appear to be in any country in the world Provided it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs you can use a VPN to unblock your usual streaming services from anywhere in the world it helps with playback speeds and is a huge boost for your general internet security.  TechRadar love NordVPN’s super speedy connections trustworthy security and the fact it works with Android 24/7 support and it's currently available for a knockdown price the Discovery+ streaming platform has you covered.  You can get TNT Sports on your TV through a pay-TV package with various providers while Discovery+ plans now cost £30.99 a month since the closure of Eurosport You can watch cycling on Max for $9.99 a month right now but at the end of the month the price is changing to $15.99 a month costs $39.99 a month or $203.88 for the year.  SBS has Milan-San Remo free coverage for those in Australia.  As a result, Aussies will be locked out of the streaming on Staylive. Those in New Zealand can still watch Milan-San Remo on Staylive ($9.99 a month) but only the men's race will be shown live Coverage of Milan-San Remo on TNT Sports / Discovery+ begins at 8.30am GMT for the men’s race so you can watch from the very start to the finish between 3.30pm and 4.30pm GMT The women’s Milan-San Remo will be on from 11am-2pm GMT.  Coverage of Milan-San Remo on Max and Flobikes begins at 4.30am ET so it’s an early start for the men’s race The women’s Milan-San Remo will be on from 7am-10am ET Those watching Milan-San Remo on SBS are in for a late one with the men’s race starting at 8.05pm AEDT and running through to around 3am AEDT The women’s Milan-San Remo is on from 10.30pm until around 1am AEDT Dani has reported from the world's top races She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia Mads Pedersen is brewing up something dastardly it's hard to ask for a better weekend of bike racing than that We now live in a brave new world of successful Cipressa attacks Saturday was a day of bike racing that will live long in the memory the only thing better than one Poggio finish of Milan-San Remo is two and the first double Poggio day in a few decades absolutely delivered with Lorena Wiebes and Mathieu van der Poel winning thrilling editions The men's race potentially saw a new era of Milan-San Remo take form with Tadej Pogačar successfully ripping the race apart to form a winning move (for the group he took away at least) on the Cipressa for the first time since 1996 Pogačar's Strava shows he reached a maximum speed of 50 km/h during that Cipressa attack While Van der Poel survived Pogačar's attacks (and Ganna did the pacing of the season to hang on in contention until the very end) the Slovenian's team boss Mauro Gianetti questioned the barrage of motorcycles in front of his rider on the Poggio "Pogacar had a 3-5 meter advantage on the Poggio at one point he encountered a motorcycle in front of him," Gianetti told Bicisport afterwards "Maybe that moment could have had some moral impact but I think Van der Poel showed he was truly strong." So strong was Van der Poel that he even managed to pick up a bottle during one of Pogačar's attacks which maybe provides Gianetti with an answer too it was a weekend that showed what bike racing is all about And while Pogačar was eventually all smiles on the podium this photo will provide some bulletin board material for him until the next Classicissima We're all about the weird and not-so-wonderful things riders chuck down their gullets in pursuit of better performance Remember Remco Evenepoel's pre-TT meal of a jam (specifically raspberry) and banana sandwich; some slices of chicken fillet; and half a litre of Fanta concoction all slushing around in his stomach as he pedals really fast Mads Pedersen has found the perfect thing for when you're a bigger boy and need to get up and over mountains a bit quicker such as at the recent Paris-Nice where he floated over gradients with more grace than one would expect of a rider his size Pedersen pours the following into his bidon: sodium bicarbonate and the energy drink Monster," he said on his Lang Distance podcast "Every day during Paris-Nice I drank a Monster Just a 'Monner' in the can with three hours left The broccoli comes in concentrated form in the supplement 'Nomio' and is said to help lower the lactate level in the blood pray for whoever Pedersen shares a hotel room with at bike races 🛞 The Unicycle Everesting record we reported on back in November has been broken. Ben Soja set a time of 14 hours and 30 minutes to beat Mason Allen's previous best time of 21 hours and nine minutes "I will be back," Allen posted on Instagram in response setting a time of 6 minutes and 44 seconds to smash the previous eight-year-old record set by Ilaria Sanguineti in 2017 Correction: Demi Vollering has since uploaded her Strava file and climbed the Poggio in 6:42 🙅‍♂️ Pauline Férrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike) was demoted and received a yellow card for deviating from her line in the San Remo sprint and impeding EF Education-Oatly's Noemi Rüegg She was therefore relegated from fourth to 12th place 🤯 The 30-year Cipressa record has been broken after Pogačar Van der Poel and Ganna climbed it in 8:45 on Saturday beating the 1996 time from Alexandre Gotchenkov and Gabriele Colombo of 9:17 🍼 Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) was given a yellow card fined 500 CHF and docked 25 UCI points for 'throwing away a bidon in a dangerous manner' the UCI rules dictate a yellow card can only be given for a second infraction of this offence 💸 Demi Vollering has criticised the fact the women's Milan-San Remo prize money was only 11% of what was on offer for the men's race "Now none of us start here for the prize money but when we talk about equal opportunities we really want to get them," Vollering told Eurosport Discovery have issued a statement to say the Track Champions League was held for the final time in 2024 and going forward the Track Nations Cup will instead be revitalised from 2026 and rebranded as the Track World Cup which it had previously been called in 2021 before the rebranding to 'Nations' We love the concept behind ismilansanremoexcitingyet.com a website that flickers to answer 'yes' for a few of the half a million minutes contained within each year when the action finally gets going at the first Monument of the season We imagine whoever is behind the website just flicks it over manually and the whole process isn't automated or anything in which case there was a bit of an oversight on Saturday when the website failed to flick over to 'yes' when the women's race hit the Poggio three hours before the men followed suit Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Stage 2(10:15-12:15 ET/14:15-16:15 GMT/01:15-03:15 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports Classic Brugge de Panne - Men(10:00-12:30 ET/14:00-16:30 GMT/01:00-03:30 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Stage 3(10:15-12:15 ET/14:15-16:15 GMT/01:15-03:15 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports Classic Brugge de Panne - Women(10:00-12:30 ET/14:00-16:30 GMT/01:00-03:30 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Stage 4(10:15-12:15 ET/14:15-16:15 GMT/01:15-03:15 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports E3 Saxo Classic(08:00-13:00 ET/13:00-17:00 GMT/00:00-04:00 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Stage 5(09:15-11:00 ET/13:15-15:00 GMT/00:15-02:00 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports but it turns out Groupama-FDJ boss and one of the Frenchest Frenchman ever Marc Madiot isn't so keen on the Tour de France Grand Départ being hosted outside of France so often "Starting from abroad from time to time seems normal and economically essential to me But for it to become so recurrent seems far too much," he told radio station RMC over the weekend I know it's not always easy to get the financial compensation we hope for in each edition But I think we have to be reasonable and not just look at the financial side We need to have a Tour de France in France we'll soon be doing half of the Tour de France abroad ..." former pro Jérôme Pineau was on hand to offer some context and balance "The real problem is the economic and political will to host the Tour in France we no longer want to host major events like this because they are very expensive." once we get to 2027 we'll have had five of the last seven men's Tours starting outside France but what about the ratio during Madiot's nine Tour appearances between 1982-1992 And what's more is that the mid-eighties saw a return to the old way of doing things with three starts in four years from the Île-de-France region and surely repetition is a graver crime than going to fun bordering locations to show off the Tour to the world He'll change his mind when he sets foot in a Greggs for the first time in 2027 .. Someone needs to tell Intermarché-Wanty about the concept of manifesting or recommend them some pseudo-intellectual self-help podcast Anything to stop this sort of subconscious self-doubt "Currently doing some bikepacking in Taiwan - fabulous riding!" writes in John Catalano "Yesterday we rode from Hsinchu - home of TSMC - (Taiwan’s trump against Trump) to Nanzhuang where I noticed this laundromat opposite where we were buying some delicious buns for breakfast Our route today to Taichung (home of Giant) coincided with stage three of the Tour de Taiwan." Ronan McLaughlin and Dane Cash for contributions to today’s edition and a big thank you to all of you who have signed up as Escape Collective members If you've been enjoying this newsletter then please consider signing up to support us and enjoy all the paywalled content of the wider Escape Collective universe. Go on, just click this link here Former San Remo winners Vincenzo Nibali and Maurizio Fondriest ride with Briton for last 10 kilometres and given the Briton a few ideas about how he can follow in their wheel tracks to triumph on the Via Roma on Saturday Having lost San Remo as a neo-pro in 1988 to double Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon, Fondriest then triumphed in the same race in 1993, while Nibali had a memorable solo victory in 2018. Pidcock himself has taken Olympic MTB titles as well as victories at Alpe d'Huez during the Tour and Strade Bianche and is coming into Milan-San Remo on the back of a string of early season victories and a sixth place overall in Tirreno-Adriatico.  Pidcock was in the thick of the action when Jasper Stuyven attacked at the foot of the Poggio after the descent and in 2024 he launched a late attack that brought him across to breakaway Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) But his daring last-kilometre move was crushed by 2023 winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) setting things up for a sprint triumph for the Dutchman's teammate Fondriest and Nibali were wearing two specially designed Q36.5-made jerseys commemorating their respective victories in San Remo when they joined Pidcock for the closing segment of La Primavera earlier this week "San Remo is the most technical of the Monuments," Nibali said afterwards You cannot allow yourself to decide in advance where you will attack "For example one year I had decided that I had to wait and only attack on the Poggio you need to be able to pay maximum attention at all times because things can change at a moment’s notice." As for what his advice to Pidcock would be Nibali said "Follow Van der Poel or [Tadej] Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) Tom is the lesser favourite of the three and needs to attack after them." "When he follows their attacks he needs to try to be ever so slightly conservative in order to be able to attack them again It’s very hard but I managed to do it a few times in my career - on the descent at Il Lombardia at Sheffield in the [2014] Tour de France." "There are always just two roads to victory Either you are a sprinter who can hold on a bit on short climbs of about six minutes Or else you are an extremely explosive rider [Julian] Alaphilippe (Tudor ProCycling) Van der Poel or Tom Pidcock," Fondriest added "These are riders with a vicious change of pace and can treat the Poggio like a 500-600m uphill sprint To attack earlier than the Poggio you need very special weather conditions "Maybe there exists a last option which is only available to you if you are not amongst the favourites and that is to attack at the base of the Poggio after the descent Q36.5 are not the most powerful team in San Remo this year but Fondriest argued it was possible to win the Italian Monument without massive firepower to back you up "The race is always decided on the Poggio so all you need your team to do is get you to the front before the Poggio maybe you can set a very high rhythm both on the Cipressa and Poggio," he said "But in the end let’s say Pogačar attacks Van der Poel and Pidcock follow him and all Pogacar’s team has done is make the race for whoever has got the legs… So no you don’t need a strong team to win Sanremo." Fondriest said: "Being the lighter ride in terms of weight amongst the favourites what he certainly shouldn’t do is attack first on the Poggio and go over the Poggio first and try to do something on the descent… "But in general my advice to him would be: be the last to make your move do not attack before Van der Poel or Pogačar have attacked." Should Pidcock win he would be the first Briton to do so since Mark Cavendish in 2009 and after Tom Simpson in 1964 and Cavendish 15 years ago just the third in his country's history.  Alasdair FotheringhamSocial Links NavigationAlasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991 He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain he has also written for The Independent,  The Guardian,  ProCycling It is with immense sadness that I share the loss of my heart horse This isn’t a note that I could write in one sitting and it’s one that pulls on my heart more than words can describe As we said goodbye and I hugged him one last time much of which the horse world may already know I’d like to share it for those who wouldn’t mind walking down memory lane Remo and I found each other nearly 15 years ago just shortly after my dad’s stage 4 cancer diagnosis Walking into the indoor on the warm up day of Maclay Regionals I remember laying eyes on him for the first time and saying Already under Stacia and Beacon Hill’s care I (as a local kid with big and what felt like unattainable aspirations) admired him from afar who said that she had a horse who had just been with Stacia at Capital Challenge and regionals As we walked into her farm to see if the horse and I could be a good pair After a successful warmup day in Gladstone I recall being in the car with my mom and dad as he dialed Amanda to ask about also riding him at Medal Finals (or so I thought) and we’d like to talk about purchasing him I was in shock…but my dad had his own plans knowing that Remo was going to be the horse that would make my dreams become reality With what was otherwise planned to be my dad’s retirement money My dad knew that he wouldn’t be with us long enough to see our partnership truly grow and even though we didn’t talk about it out loud he began laying the foundation for what would soon be some of the best years of my life he asked someone who became one of the most influential people in my life she would ensure we “grew up right,” focusing on being a good horsewoman and with a great horse and her looking out for us a quick bit of funny context: At the beginning Remo was anti-turnout…and boy do I mean anti So much so that he once jumped the fence at Beacon Hill the team grew to understand Remo for who he was and figured out his routine and care which included rehab at home and ultimately winters and time off with John Madden Sales up on Madden Mountain (Spoiler alert: He jumped out of the paddock there and one day after a humbling experience with the fence and the mares in the next pasture he came to realize that outdoor life suited him and that it was important to keep all four on the floor With Remo’s reliable “just call me when you need me” type of way he became what I fondly say was a bit of a machine He only came back for the most important shows with Krista being the one to wrangle him back into the bridle he didn’t love trail rides nor ribbons being passed up to him but I believe he showed us his love in other ways If there is one thing that I know for certain it is that Remo never told me “no,” and I mean that quite literally He took me to the winner’s circle more times than I can count and he made me believe in myself more than any horse before him I knew I was safe and that he would always try his hardest and forgiveness that allowed us to end our time together on the highest of highs and I truly believe that I am forever in his debt It would be silly to say that such a special horse’s career would end after just one kid and thankfully Remo’s career continued for years and years after me Remo continued to take show after show by storm He tried harder than any horse that I have ever known the North American Junior Equitation Championship and Maclay finals care from team Beacon Hill including Grande I am beyond thankful for all of those in his village and for the paradise in which Remo retired over the past few years I hope you are proud of everything that you have done We are lucky to have been a part of your journey and we did our best to do right by you Although I feel as if a huge part of me is gone I know that as you crossed through Heaven’s gate ready to thank you for taking care of me for all of these years The Plaid Horse is a print and digital publishing company providing exceptional coverage for the hunter/jumper/breeding disciplines at reasonable rates and suppliers to the industry through horse show and event coverage Contact us: news@theplaidhorse.com Sign up for The TPH Newsletter and receive fresh inspiration from the hunter jumper world I would like to receive emails from The Plaid Horse Magazine Noemi Rüegg third place as Longo Borghini's dreams of winning home Monument are shattered in San Remo Pauline Ferrand-Prèvot (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially finished fourth on the day but was later relegated to 12th place After a hectic descent from the Poggio, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) attacked right away and got a sizeable gap at first until Wiebes' teammate world champion Lotte Kopecky went all-out in the chase Longo Borghini was a few seconds ahead at the flamme rouge passing Vos in the final ten metres to win "Not yet I think but I had to finish the teamwork off I'm really grateful for the team how we worked as a team and what Lotte did in the final I'm super grateful for and was able to stay with the top riders over the Poggio and that is when she knew she could contest the final.  "I think there were multiple options but I felt that I did good on the Cipressa so also on the Poggio I was with the first five or something at the top and then I knew I would ride for the win.  "Longo Borghini did a really strong attack but I saw Lotte was close behind and Wiebes also said she was not worried about the descent or the final kilometre where Longo Borghini made a surprise attack knowing Kopecky was there to bring the Italian back into the fold in the final metres.  I knew how strong Lotte is and she put me in the perfect position I need to say Vos surprised me a little bit I didn't want to open my sprint too early but it was enough for the win." the 156-kilometre women’s race took place almost exclusively on the Via Aurelia with the climbs of the Cipressa and Poggio being the only exceptions Early attacks from Anne Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels) and Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) were quickly reeled in again and it was only when Knijnenburg attacked again after more than 60km that a breakaway was established Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Virginia Bortoli (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) formed a chase duo they were a minute and 20 seconds behind Knijnenburg A crash 54km from the line briefly held up Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) Tomasi and Bortoli were caught while Knijnenburg made it over the Capo Mele solo and FDJ-Suez set a high pace on the Capo Cervo and Capo Berta but none of the favourites were in difficulty yet A crash near the front of the pack with 30.5km to go took down a.o Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Kopecky and held up Wiebes temporarily fracturing the peloton in the run-in to the Cipressa most crashed riders returned to the front ahead of the Cipressa and about sixty riders started the longest climb of the day together Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) and Loes Adegeest (FDJ-Suez) set a hard pace on the first half of the 5.6km climb Ferrand-Prévot went into the descent first and stretched out the peloton leading to a group of 13 riders having a gap at the bottom that included Longo Borghini Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) Only Vas and Kopecky wanted to keep the group going and things came back together with 15km to go then Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) came to the front and went to work with her team’s leader Niewiadoma slotting in behind her Labous made her move about a kilometre from the top prompting counterattacks by Niewiadoma and Le Court but none of them could shake off the rest of the favourites When Vollering attacked just before the top it was more to get a good position for the descent than anything else Vollering led the race down most of the descent with riders in single file behind her and when they had reached the bottom of the descent Longo Borghini immediately launched her all-or-nothing attack but Kopecky went to the front of the 12-rider chase group almost as quickly and started to chase in service of her teammate Wiebes with Kopecky still about ten metres behind Longo Borghini Vos launched her sprint from sixth position but Wiebes was still winding up her sprint and came past on the last metres to take the victory Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018 Here's what you need to know about the route and the favorites for the 2025 edition of Milan-San Remo The first Monument of the 2025 season is here: Milan-San Remo gets underway on Saturday in Italy Cycling fans have been treated some stellar and suspenseful showdowns in the San Remo finale over the past few years and the stage is set for another good one this year Alpecin-Deceuninck is hoping to pull off the three-peat after Mathieu van der Poel won in 2023 and Jasper Philipsen won last year Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is hoping to finally flip the script and claim one of the few big races on the calendar he has yet to win The rest of the peloton is hoping to crash the party For the first time in two decades, there will be a women's Milan-San Remo this year, and Matt de Neef has everything you need to know about that race in his preview Here's everything you need to know about the men's race here are our top favorites for Saturday's race When: The men's Milan-San Remo starts on Saturday at 10:15 am local time (5:15 am EDT/8:15 pm AEDT). The race is set to finish at around 5:00 pm local time (12:00 pm EDT/3:00 am AEDT), and you can expect post-race analysis from How the Race was Won over on YouTube about an hour and a half after the race Streaming: TNT Sports (UK); Max (US); FloBikes (CAN); SBS (AUS) As always, our how to watch guide has the details on the full WorldTour calendar The percorso for the 2025 edition of Milan-San Remo is almost the same as last year's with only very small changes in the first few kilometers of the race going over the Passo del Turchino as the first significant climb of the 289 km race near the midway point at 139.3 km until things start to heat up with the trio of small climbs known as the Tre Capi: the Capo Mele After another flat stretch comes the Cipressa which could play a major role in defining the race topping out just under 22 km from the finish with an average gradient of 4.1% over 5.6 km The climbers will want to do as much as possible to pressure the heavier riders going up and over the ascent – more on that in a bit Following the high-speed descent off the Cipressa there are 8 km or so of flat roads before the start of the final climb: the Poggio but the accumulated fatigue makes it a potential launchpad for attacks and the majority of that distance is a very tricky descent sure to spur more action riders will make for the line on the Via Roma which has hosted some iconic sprint finishes in years past .. but has often seen attackers foil the plans of the fast finishers in recent editions with a 70% chance of rain during the afternoon and locally heavy showers possible but local downpours or wet descents could be a factor We go into Milan-San Remo with a few questions on our mind The best rider in the world seems to win at will but he has not yet conquered Milan-San Remo despite his best efforts Tadej Pogačar is once again a favorite for San Remo this year and that leaves us to wonder once again whether he can finally figure out how to win it The key thing for Pogačar is finding a way to get off the front going over climbs that aren't really all that hard and thus really needs his rivals to be out of gas when he makes his inevitable attack Alpecin-Deceuninck has proven to be an immovable obstacle for his typically unstoppable force Mathieu van der Poel countered after an initial Pogačar attack and soloed to victory Van der Poel followed Pogačar's move and then the race came back together leaving Jasper Philipsen to sprint for the win Van der Poel's tactics were critical to both wins and he's back for Saturday's race as a top favorite again Regardless of whether the Poggio is the site of Pogačar's planned attack the Cipressa could be the key to wearing away at his rivals UAE Team Emirates-XRG already had that in mind last year when director Joxean "Matxin" Fernández said that the goal was to climb the Cipressa in under nine minutes They did not get up the Cipressa quite that quickly and Pogačar's rivals were fresh enough to bring him to heel on the Poggio If they plan to try something similar again in 2025 UAE does have a few new faces in the squad – Jhonatan Narváez and Isaac del Toro are very strong cards to play – and perhaps that could make the difference Coming off of back-to-back wins in the race, Alpecin-Deceuninck had every reason to come into this week feeling confident about hunting a third win. Instead, they will head into Saturday full of uncertainty after defending champion Jasper Philipsen crashed out of Nokere Koerse Regardless of Philipsen's status as defending champion Mathieu van der Poel was probably still the more favored of the two even before the crash given his versatility but Philipsen's presence near the front could make a big difference in the finale If Mathieu van der Poel gets clear in a small group with Philipsen behind he can afford to let others do the work in the break knowing if it comes back together the Jasper card is back in play If Philipsen isn't at or close to the front over the Poggio winning the race will be a taller order for Alpecin but Van der Poel is one of the few riders in the world capable of matching Pogačar in the sort of effort required to get clear at the end of this race He is a better bet for a reduced sprint too In short: He can win even if Philipsen is not at his best If Philipsen is there in the finale to add pressure to the field this author likes really likes Alpecin's chances to pick up that third victory All eyes will be on UAE and Alpecin on Saturday but we see three other teams with a real chance to challenge the favorites. Mads Pedersen, who was climbing like a man possessed at Paris-Nice last week and a similarly in-form Jonathan Milan headline the Lidl-Trek squad It's hard to see past the former in a reduced sprint or the latter in a big field sprint 2021 winner Jasper Stuyven could also be in the mix going over the Poggio Lidl-Trek has as much firepower as anyone in the race Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) rode to an impressive second place in 2023 The Italian also has a huge engine and will be a real danger to get clear either near the top of the Poggio or on the run-in to the line he recently showed off some serious climbing chops riding to second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico He will also benefit from simply not being Pogačar or Van der Poel his rivals could hesitate as they pay more attention to the bigger favorites The same could be said for Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) who more than most will need to get away on his own because sprinting is not really his thing He has shown strong form riding with a new team for 2025 – a new team where he is the main attraction – and he should have free rein to go for it on the Poggio Ten years after his first Milan-San Remo podium Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) is still hunting for the elusive win The 34-year-old Australian has had a relatively quiet first few months of 2025 but he has the experience and the skillset to be there in the finish Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) is a former winner and perfectly suited for a solo bid in the finale Perhaps he is sufficiently removed from his 2022 win at this point to sneak away from the field again another attack on the descent towards the finish line seems like his best bet and Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) are others to watch when things heat up on Saturday in Italy To say Lorena Wiebes has made an emphatic start to her season is a bit of an understatement The Dutchwoman underlined her reputation as arguably the best sprinter in women’s cycling with a flourish at the UAE Tour It was her third win out of the four legs of the race she has now won half of all the stages throughout the three-year history of the event “It’s a statistic I’m proud of,” she said Sunday This is a great start to our season and gives a lot of confidence and motivation for the future.” The latter result underlines her versatility with a solid performance on Saturday’s summit finish of Jabel Hafeet proving her all round ability That same ability is something she hopes will carry her to success in a newly resurrected classic this spring Seven editions of La Primavera Rosa were held between 1999 and 2005 It was a highly important race then but being reborn as the Milan-San Remo Donne adds even more prestige Thanks to the rich history of the men’s event Most riders will be hugely motivated to win the first edition on March 22 “I think it will be special that we will race there,” she said in a recent interview with Velo and others because the climbs for the men’s race are different than those for the women’s “I have to do the recon also before to see and be realistic if it’s something for me or not Many sprinters have taken the men’s race over the years including last year’s champion Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) However it has been complicated for them due to the testing course A smaller select group often goes to the line although Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) triumphed solo in recent editions The big challenge for sprint specialists are the climbs on the route with the peloton often being drastically reduced on the ascent and also thinned out on the twisting Wiebes expects things to be complex for the women sprinters too “I think it can go also always with women’s cycling,” she said “It can be a small group riding to the finish “I think it can go all the [different] ways That’s why I like to have Lotte [Kopecky] also in the team She’s more often an aggressive attacking rider and strong enough to follow the best in that “It means that the pressure will won’t only be on me in that race That helped her to 13th overall in this UAE Tour and has also aided her in many other races “I still try to keep my sprints also on a really high level and to find the balance in getting stronger uphill but not losing too much sprint power,” she said “You need to do it more and more like this because if you look to the parcours of the Giro or the Tour you don’t have so much completely flat stages Team SD Worx – Protime produced a perfect lead out for Lorena Wiebes to win Stage 1 of the UAE Tour Women [image or embed] — Velon CC (@veloncc.bsky.social) 6 February 2025 at 21:10 Surviving a bit of hills is precisely what is required for San Remo. All depends on how the race plays out but with herself and Lotte Kopecky, Team SD Worx-Protime has two very strong cards to play “I hope for her it’s the same,” she said of having faith in each other If so Kopecky might end up playing the same sort of role Mathieu van der Poel did for teammate Philipsen last spring then switched to a leadout for the faster rider Wiebes is looking forward to whatever way it goes “I really don’t know how it [the finale] will be,” she said Of course her spring is not all about Milan-San Remo Other targets in the upcoming weeks include the opening weekend races she is seeking to add to the grand tour stage wins she has already racked up “Normally I will do Giro and Tour de France and it’s possible with two weeks in between.” However while she won three stages at the Tour de France Femmes avez Zwift in the past “I don’t really want to put a big goal on the Tour de France this year because I had my disappointments last year,” she admitted “We have to see what exactly the team goals are I think we can have a really strong group in the Tour de France and I hope we can still be part of the GC.” The Tour de France was very much a team goal last season but unraveled in spectacular fashion on stage 5 Defending champion Demi Vollering was leading overall but collided with teammate Wiebes on a bend 6.3km from the finish The latter was laser-focused on going for the sprint win and didn’t wait The team later said the race radios were not working leaving the riders uninformed about what exactly was happening Wiebes may have seen Vollering on the deck albeit without realizing what had happened “I was very lucky that I stayed on my bike Vollering was disappointed after losing the lead and devastated to eventually lose the race by four seconds overall She was initially tactful but finally let fly at the Team SD Worx-Protime tactics in late November weeks after her switch to FDJ Suez was confirmed she has refrained from blaming Wiebes herself Indeed she defended her when she came under criticism on social media at the Tour Given the tension between Vollering and her former squad is Wiebes disappointed how things ended up “I think it’s always not nice to lose a rider such as her in the team,” she told Velo That’s also from our time at Park Hotel before because we also need to go on with the new riders we have in the team it’s always sad to leave her as a rider in the team and that we have a nice battles between the teams The 160 km course for the revived women's La Primavera will feature a Cipressa and Poggio finale just like the men's race but how the race will unfold is completely unknowable Race organizer RCS Sport revealed the route for the revived Milan-San Remo Women on Wednesday confirming that both the Cipressa and Poggio will feature in the finale will start in Genoa and cover 156 km along the Ligurian coast before finishing on the Via Roma in San Remo The final 60 km follow the classic approach to San Remo Taking place on the same day as the men’s edition the women’s race will begin at 10:35 CET and is expected to conclude around 14:30 with two hours of live television coverage promised by race organizers Riders will tackle the Tre Capi climbs – Capo Mele and Capo Berta –before facing the Cipressa (5.6 km at 4.1%) and Poggio di Sanremo (3.7 km at 3.7%) The Poggio should set up an explosive finale before a twisting technical descent leads the peloton into the final straight on the Via Roma The revival of Milan-San Remo Women marks the first time in two decades that a women’s race will finish in San Remo saw Trixi Worrack outsprint her rivals to claim victory Six editions of that race took place from 1999 to 2005 The announcement follows RCS Sport’s ongoing efforts to expand women’s racing including their takeover of the Giro d’Italia Donne and follows trends across the cycling landscape to expand the women's calendar into more of cycling's oldest events “We are proud to restore this prestigious event offering the best female athletes a course worthy of its history,” said Mauro Vegni There's no rule that says a women's race needs to follow the same script as its men's equivalent (thank goodness) but the men's Milan-San Remo is notable primarily for its length which leads to more than six hours in the saddle The climbs are not considered difficult enough This careful balance between sprinters and breakaway artists which has moved back one weekend with the addition of San Remo to the women's calendar Three stages of this year's Tour de France Femmes are also longer – stages 3 has advocated for a true equivalent to the men’s race arguing that women should be allowed to race 200 km or more The UCI has set 160 km as the maximum length for Women's WorldTour races it's a rule that the UCI already allows some races to break — assumes we want a women's Milan-San Remo to play out as the men's race does We want this because we love how the men's race unfolds almost always unclear until the very last moments we have a race that hasn't existed since 2005 and even that edition was on a slightly different course; there is little historical context upon which to lean we can't truly predict whether the Poggio will be hard enough after 156 km because this peloton has never done it Tadej Pogačar has the Strava KOM at 5:31; is a climb that long enough to split the women's peloton Would a Cipressa move work in the right context What we love about Milan-San Remo are those moments in the unknown as a peloton chases and breakaways escape and the outcome of the race hangs in the balance The not knowing is the whole point of San Remo The tactics at Trofeo Alfredo Binda shed some light on what Lidl-Trek needs to do to win the revived Milan-San Remo Women next weekend UAE Team ADQ was the strongest team on the day but no one could beat Elisa Balsamo at the line All the best climbers in women's cycling couldn't get to the line faster than Elisa Balsamo at Trofeo Alfredo Binda on Sunday The Lidl-Trek rider was invisible for the entirety of the race only coming out of the woodwork to sprint to victory ahead of Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) and Cat Ferguson (Movistar) Late race attacks from Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE ADQ) were for nothing as the race came back together within 1 km from the finish line It was just another example of the new politics of the peloton with the return of Van der Breggen and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the continued changes that have made women's cycling more competitive than ever Sunday's race highlighted exactly how Balsamo can win Milan-San Remo Women next weekend but some adjustments will need to be made within Lidl-Trek for that to happen The women's Trofeo Alfredo Binda is normally a race frequented by only a few top names in women's cycling as riders have started to adjust their calendars to target the Flanders Classics races the weekend of racing in Italy is pushed aside in favour of a quality training block post-Omloop Het Nieuwsblad most of the top names in the sport made their way to Cittiglio to test their legs on the rolling terrain Only Lotte Kopecky and Kasia Niewiadoma were absent; the world champion is set to start her 2025 season at San Remo Women next weekend and the 2024 Tour winner is recovering from a crash in Strade Bianche This race features some significant climbing in the opening stages but always comes down to the final circuits that feature two short ascents It's an early-season one-day event that can truly be won by anyone Winning moves have gone on the climbs in the past but the race can also come down to a reduced bunch sprint from Marianne Vos to Kasia Niewiadoma to Elisa Longo Borghini to Balsamo The list of favourites on Sunday prior to the race included 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner Demi Vollering former multi-time world champion Van der Breggen 2024 Giro d'Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini With the quality of climbers on the start list one could assume the finish would be a selective one and the climbers probably thought the same there were multiple situations that easily could have been race-done Van der Breggen solo off the front with 15 km to go A group containing those three plus Noemi Rüegg The final move of the day saw Longo Borghini Pieterse and Monica Trinca-Colonel off the front within 1 km of the line it wasn't a strong chase from Lidl-Trek that made Balsamo's win possible with a powerful move contending for the win in the final kilometres the primary colours of the American team were nowhere to be seen was only represented by Niamh Fisher-Black who jumped on a few moves earlier in the race who had been in the pre-live coverage move benefited from SD Worx-Protime working on behalf of Blanka Vas Both of Balsamo's prior victories at Trofeo Alfredo Binda were thanks to a full team effort but when it came down to the final turn Balsamo was surfing the wheels without a teammate in sight her team will need to be around her on the final climbs and she will need a strong chase to fuse the race together before the line but the team will need more than the former time trial world champion to fill the void left by Longo Borghini The strongest team throughout the day was UAE Team ADQ who sent Longo Borghini and Dominika Wlodarczyk on the attack and had Brodie Chapman Eleonora Gasparrini and Karlijn Swinkels fusing the peloton back together It was Longo Borghini's team that chased down Van der Breggen when she made her solo move SD Worx-Protime was also active with the former world champion Femke Gerritse on chase duty While Visma-Lease a Bike was present in a few of the key moves they ended up missing out on the podium with Vos finishing fourth Liv AlUla Jayco was also recognizable but only managed fifth on the day So why couldn't any of the top climbers get away Whenever one of them missed the move the others were quick to chase and when all of them were off the front together there simply wasn't enough commitment That doesn't mean those same riders won't contend San Remo next weekend If anyone is planning on placing some bets before Saturday betting that Longo Borghini will be the key instigator on the Poggio would probably not be a bad call the reduced bunch sprint sheds some light on the potential finish to come at the revamped San Remo Women The race will finish with the same historic roads as the men's although Lotte Kopecky will be a hard one to beat The race on March 22nd could be won by Balsamo from a reduced group or a solo rider who is able to get away on the Poggio Kopecky will start her season in Genova and without knowing her form she will be one to watch If she's even a fraction as strong as she was last season she will easily be able to follow a move by Longo Borghini on the final climb and then outsprint the Italian on the line Longo Borghini has proved her form is right where it needs to be and a win at San Remo Women would look right at home next to her Tour of Flanders Vos also proved she cannot be trusted on Saturday was following the climbers on a few occasions and was able to get amongst it in the sprint she was dusting off the cobwebs ahead of San Remo To summarize: Vos can outclimb Balsamo but Longo Borghini and Kopecky can outclimb Vos if Balsamo (who is climbing quite well) can make it over the climb or Lidl-Trek can pull back in any attackers before the line no one can outsprint her from a select group Ferrand-Prévot might be strong enough to make it into a selection but hasn't shown she could win from one and Pieterse could probably land herself on the podium no matter how the race goes remains a top contender but that depends on how the climbers attack the Poggio The team that will be making the race hard going into the Poggio is UAE Team ADQ The women haven't raced to San Remo in 20 years but based on the one-days so far it's easy to see who will be fighting for the win on Saturday one of the longest-running races on the women's calendar hinted at who will be contesting the win in San Remo and more importantly how the tactics of the peloton will likely play out on the coastal road in Italy riders to watch: Here's all you need to know ahead of Milan-San Remo and the most explosive finales of the season The startlists for Saturday’s MSR and the rebooted San Remo Women are packed full of punch Race organizers confirmed this week that Tom Pidcock, Elisa Longo Borghini, Mads Pedersen, Kasia Niewiadoma, and men’s defending champion Jasper Philipsen are also poised for twinned races that should deliver the most explosive finales of the season. 4 percent slope of the Poggio crown the first monument winners of the season Or will San Remo be decided in the 750m dash down the Via Roma Or maybe a Cipressa raid will finally convert here’s all you need to know ahead of Milan-San Remo and San Remo Women: Both races Saturday will be broadcast live on Max in the USA An array of local European channels including Rai and France TV are also expected to carry the broadcasts La primavera è nell’aria. La Classicissima è pronta a scrivere la storia.#MilanoSanremo #SanremoWomen presented by @CA_Itapic.twitter.com/TAD4RSohg0 — Milano Sanremo (@Milano_Sanremo) March 18, 2025 Visma-Lease a Bike rider relegated from fourth place to 12th in revived Monument for 'deviation from chosen line' confirms race organisers confirmed race organisers following the event on Saturday.  The Visma-Lease a Bike rider initially finished fourth on the day, behind the winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) out of a small group of 12 riders that sprinted for the win.  given a yellow card warning and fined 200 CHF for an "irregular sprint." "Deviation from the chosen line that obstructs another rider," as the reason for their decision to relegate Ferrand-Prévot Ferrand-Prévot started the race as one of the favourites The French rider stretched the peloton out on the descent of the Cipressa before A small group of 12 riders then emerged over the Poggio.  Italian National Champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Team UAE ADQ) made a late-race attack after the hectic descent off the Poggio but she was caught at the line as Wiebes sprinted for the win ahead of Vos and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) veered slightly to the left to get around a fading Kopecky as she completed her lead-out for Wiebes in the process Ferrand-Prévot moving slightly into the line of Rüegg in the last metres of the race Ferrand-Prévot had crossed the line in fourth place before officials made the decision to relegate her to the back of the small group in 12th Ferrand-Prévot later responded to the official's decision on Instagram “It’s a shame I was relegated from fourth to twelfth place But it doesn’t matter—right now I’m mainly really happy about Marianne’s second place.” It had been a strong performance to add to her third at Strade Bianche earlier this month and an indication of how she will stack up against the WorldTour peloton in the races ahead Numerous new and revised UCI rules came into effect January 1 2025 which saw the official roll-out of the yellow-card system for safety violations and more specific rules surrounding sprint finishes Although Ferrand-Prévot was the only rider relegated at Milan-San Remo she was not the only rider to receive a yellow card Compatriot Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) also received the warning -5 points from the UCI ranking for "pushing another rider" Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006 Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023 Tour de Hoody: Pogačar hints at start at Paris-Roubaix but his real hell will be trying unravel the puzzle of Milan-San Remo Tadej Pogačar keeps dropping hints he’ll race Paris-Roubaix sooner than later he blew up the Internet by posting videos of himself training on the notorious cobblestones feigning innocence saying he was only joining teammates on a jolly recon ride But over the weekend, Pogačar offered more definitive views in an exclusive interview with the “Bartoli Time” program on French outlet RMC “After my exploration I have to say that Paris-Roubaix has caught my attention. I actually thought that this competition would be too tough for me, but I have found that it should still be possible,” he told RMC “There is a good chance that I will be at the start in the near future I can’t say yet whether that will be this season or next year “But it is possible that I will already participate this year I think the decision will be made after Milan-San Remo.” UAE Emirates-XRG top brass have also repeatedly insisted that Paris-Roubaix is not on his calendar this year it’s not a question of if Pogačar will race Roubaix UAE insiders tell me that Pogačar wants to win every major race on the calendar With nearly 100 pro wins already on his Hall of Fame palmarès Only Roubaix, Milan-San Remo, and the Vuelta a España remain on his ever-shrinking “to do” list of cycling’s iconic races my hunch is that Pogačar will race Roubaix this year In fact, I wrote that he would win it back in January as part of my five outrageous predictions for 2025 The temptation is simply too big while racing this year in the rainbow jersey Pogačar keeps finding new ways to surprise us, but he also needs to keep things interesting for himself. After his record-smashing 2024 season it’s almost a no-brainer that Roubaix is the next major target Tadej Pogačar not only reconned the Arenberg Forest but They did a Flanders recon on Saturday and Roubaix on Sunday He’s not set to start Roubaix, but ‘there are some small chances’ (Gazzetta) pic.twitter.com/wOFFG0NvhL — La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) February 11, 2025 And why not? Everyone saw how he handles the Roubaix-level cobbles in the 2022 Tour de France. And he packs the bike-handling chops to handle any rough stuff and the way he’s been ticking off bucket-list wins it’s only natural he’s flirting with the idea of taming the “Queen of the Classics.” We’ve seen him make the supposedly unwinnable winnable before he pulled even on two records — the Giro-Tour double and “the Triple Crown” — that many thought were beyond reach in the modern era The Vuelta a España is also no brainer He nearly won it in 2019 in his grand tour debut and could have won last year on one leg Like UAE’s hemming and hawing on Roubaix, he’s not quite publicly committed to the Vuelta either, but it’s in the cards he will race the Spanish grand tour this year perhaps the hardest race on the entire calendar to win — Milan-San Remo If there’s one race that’s going to make life hell for him is still a race where the strongest man often wins His relatively light 66kg compared to the larger cobble-munchers up to 10kg heavier might be a disadvantage over the pounding of the pavé another race that supposedly wasn’t built for him Roubaix is a time trial on roads built to handle 19th century ox-carts and Pogi is cycling’s ultimate thoroughbred so if he stays upright and avoids punctures Jasper Philipsen se lleva una Milán-San Remo con un final absolutamente taquicárdico. Pogacar hizo una carrera espectacular, no se llevó la victoria pero sigue ajustando su punto de mira en La Primavera: pic.twitter.com/BaUmPiud1i — Miguel González (@gzlz11) March 16, 2024 it’s not dubbed the “easiest race to finish but the hardest to win” without reason San Remo is deceptively simple yet surprisingly complicated to win Despite its relatively benign dimple-like profile it’s a race that’s stymied some of the biggest names in the peloton over the years best remembered by the photo finish bike-stab in 2017 Philippe Gilbert — the rider who’s come closest in the modern era to completing the “monument sweep” with four of five wins — was also stymied by the Poggio puzzle The Belgian started an incredible 18 times just two placings short of joining Rik Van Looy Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck in cycling’s most elusive “monument sweep” club It’s six hours of patience and positioning until the final quarter-hour stampede up the Poggio and the toboggan ride down the other side The race is like a bottle of Prosecco that’s been shaken up all down and popped open in the final sprint down the Via Roma I recently chatted to Greg Van Avermaet about Pogačar’s chances at Roubaix and he agreed that the Hell of the North is going to be much easier to untangle than San Remo “San Remo will be the hardest one for him to win because it’s more about luck It’s hard to make the difference on the Poggio,” Van Avermaet told Velo “That climb is not steep enough for him to make the gap to the finish line.” In four starts, Pogačar already knows the challenges and pitfalls of San Remo He’s tried to force his way to victory by lighting up the Poggio with his signature accelerations but he’s watched and learned how the race can slip away to faster finishers Or will a long-distance attack on the Cipressa be in the cards Milan-San Remo incoming: Francesco Moser soloed to victory in 1984, as did Giorgio Furlan in 1994; Oscar Freire won in 2004 after Zabel celebrated too soon; Alexander Kristoff won in 2014…who wins in 2024? pic.twitter.com/DmF2ijkWhF — Graham Watson (@grahamwatson10) March 14, 2024 That’s the tricky part of the puzzle with San Remo and still get played by the sprinters who can follow the wheels up and down the Poggio The Slovenian superstar came close last year, with only Jasper Philipsen and cycling bro Michael Matthews beating him in the sprint that will push him even more to try to win,” Van Avermaet said he just has to try and try again to beat those sprinters Maybe now he will try to launch from the Cipressa It’s easier to imagine Pogačar bouncing over the pavé of the Arenberg or rocketing out of Carrefour de l’Arbre than distancing the pack over the Cipressa Milan-San Remo is the riddle he hasn’t solved yet Four decades after their first historic performance in Italy British synth-pop band Duran Duran are set to sing again at the annual music event its presenter and artistic director Carlo Conti has announced "We have just closed" the deal and "we have the final OK because after 40 years the Duran Duran will return to the Ariston" theatre with a performance scheduled in the evening of February 13 describing the group as a "timeless band" and "extremely appreciated international guests" who will surprise the public "with special effects" The 75th edition of the Sanremo festival is scheduled to take place on February 11-15 Duran Duran are also set to perform again in three Italian cities in June The pop group will hold concerts at Rome's Circus Maximus on June 15-16 at Bari's Fiera del Levante on June 18 and at the I-DAYS Milan at the Ippodromo Snai San Siro on June 20 You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Milan-San Remo is the first Monument of the year on the pro cycling calendar it has the nickname of La Primavera – The Spring Classic – with this year’s races held on Saturday 22nd March 2025 The key word there is ‘races’. The women’s Milan-San Remo makes a long-awaited return to the calendar having last been held in 2005. The men’s Milan-San Remo is one of the oldest on the calendar – first held in 1907 – and with a total route distance (including neutral zone) of almost 300km But the real selling point of Milan-San Remo is its sheer unpredictability. The race’s length combined with some spitefully placed climbs right at the end of the route and the constant risk of inclement weather opens up the possibilities for a lot of riders Related questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our AI search engine.If you would like to ask your own question you just need to Login, Register or subscribe The women’s Milan-San Remo make its return traversing the coastline for almost its entirety joining the same route as the men’s race from Voltri for the final 138km The key climbs begin in the last third of the race Up next is the Cipressa before the final potential launchpad in the Poggio should riders wish to avoid a bunch sprint on the Via Roma the Passo del Turchino is a more gradual climb halfway through the race riders stick to the coastline all the way to San-Remo as per usual The Tre Capi are barely noticeable on the profile however their arrival signifies that it’s time for the teams to start pressing on in earnest Already wound up to near warp-speed by this point the end game really kicks off with the 5.6km long Cipressa it comes after 266km and with gradients touching 9% it’s a bona fide climbing test that has often foiled the plans of sprinters hoping to cling on for a bunch finish and is annually touted as Pogačar’s first springboard Most of the time it serves mainly as an opportunity to potentially get rid of some of your rivals rather than win the race outright, but it’s not impossible to launch a successful attack here either. Vincenzo Nibali made good ground on the bunch by attacking on the Cipressa in 2014, as did Marco Pantani in 1999 to make anything stick has proven notoriously difficult and the reason for that is the flat section that lies between it and the approaching Poggio.  the iconic Poggio di San Remo is the day’s decisive climb If a rider or group is going to make a break from the pack it’s more than likely to come on the upper slopes something that guarantees the peloton will hit it at almost sprint pace This ascent is only 3.7km and its ramps are not particularly severe added to the fatigue induced from the Cipressa – not to mention the 280km the riders have ridden by this point – is excruciating and means that groups coming over the top are often in a bedraggled state They’re then instantly thrown into a highly technical descent which has also proven a launchpad for decisive attacks in the past including Mohorič’s win in 2022 and Van der Poel’s solo escapade the year after Yet when it levels out again in the middle of San Remo the roads are straight enough that any escaped rider will find themselves well within sight of the bunch Swinging right onto the Via Roma finishing straight it’s rare even for breakaway riders to get time to take their hands off the bars It's hard to pin one certified favourite because of the unpredictability of the final but if it comes to a group sprint and her SD Worx teammate Lorena Wiebes is there then their priority probably switches However given its lengthy absence from the calendar the women's race is arguably even more unpredictable than the men's That said, it's almost guaranteed that Tadej Pogačar will be the one to light the spark, almost certainly drawing out Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Filippo Ganna and Mads Pedersen leaving the sprinters to chase back on expect it to be Wiebes vs Elisa Balsamo vs Marianne Vos in the women's race and Jasper Philipsen vs Jonathan Milan vs Michael Matthews in the men's In the UK, fans can only watch Milan-San Remo on TNT Sports via Discovery+, in Australia it'll be on SBS. FloBikes has the coverage in Canada and the US, but Americans can also watch it on Max. Live coverage of the men's race and a replay of the women's race will be available to watch around the world on Staylive If Milan-San Remo isn't being broadcast in your country, or you are travelling abroad, a VPN will allow you to hide your device's location to access content that is normally geo-blocked. One such VPN provider is ExpressVPN, which is well reviewed All times GMT and subject to change by the broadcasters Data powered by FirstCycling.com Data powered by FirstCycling.com Milan-San Remo has a history as long as its route totalling over 300km (including the neutral zone at the start) It is therefore probably one of the only professional races that has retained and the prestige associated with the event has only grown with it Milan-San Remo can actually be traced back to 1906 when a two-day amateur race between Milan and San Remo was held for amateurs but after little interest was initially shown a race which had seen its inauguration the year before approached the newspaper Gazetta Dello Sport and proposed its taking over of the race Gazetta was in fact already chief organiser of the Giro di Lombardia (or Tour of Lombardy) and in 1909 it would also take part in the founding of the Giro d'Italia cementing its place in what would become Italy's three biggest races temperamental spring weather and primitive bicycles meant that merely completing the distance was a remarkable achievement in the early days and during the 1950s Milan-San Remo began to develop its reputation as a sprinter's classic investment and growing professionalism meant that no longer did pelotons start as one and finish as a bedraggled mess of individuals The Tour de France was experiencing a similar problem with more editions – or stages – finishing with large groups of riders arriving at the finish together Where the Tour organisers introduced the sprinter's jersey to reestablish some excitement the organisers of Milan-San Remo also made some changes The route's only climb had traditionally been the Turchino pass a longer climb that came at about half distance as an opportunity for the stronger riders to distance themselves But in time they began to come over the Turchino together The fact that Tom Simpson won the race in 1965 suggests diversity but the desired effect was effectively neutralised by the emergence of one Eddy Merckx who won Milan-San Remo on seven occasions between 1966 and 1976 the first coming when he was just 20 years old That record of most wins has remained to date as has the perpetuation of Milan-San Remo being classified a sprinter's race despite increasingly more climbs being added such as the Cipressa in 1982 or the Turchino-esque La Manie in 2008 was destined to be included as a vicious penultimate climb in the 2014 edition but landslides causing roadblocks and then dismissals from certain riders – Mark Cavendish being one of them – claiming the parcours had been updated beyond their capabilities It must therefore not be forgotten that Milan-San Remo has never been a straightforward gallop Despite common sprinter names such as Merckx the efforts they will have had to put in in order to get over the preceding climbs – not to mention the distance at such an early stage of the season – is often forgotten The fact that Marcel Kittel never even started it or that names we don't associate with sprinting pepper the alumni of winners are only further reminders of its nature but that certainly doesn't mean it's always won by one We take a look at some of the most memorable editions moments and riders that have played a part in the race's history The fourth edition of Milan-San Remo after its inauguration in 1907 is generally regarded as having been held in some of the worst weather conditions that bicycle racers have come up against is also famous for being the first person to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France As the riders lined up on the Milanese start line at 6am heavy snow was reported to be falling on the Turchino Pass – a stalwart of the parcours coming as a mid-distance test for the riders – which caused many to abandon before the race had even begun the riders were soon isolated and riding by themselves amid the harsh conditions and by the time they reached the Turchino there were only half of them left Belgian Cyrille Van Hauwaert was first over the top but took shelter in a roadside cottage and refused to continue but resumed after eating and finding some trousers to wear and eventually made his way to front of the field When he eventually arrived in San Remo he didn't even realise he had won after mistakenly thinking he had taken a wrong turn Second place Luigi Ganna arrived almost 40 minutes after Christophe but was disqualified for having taken a lift in a car and only five riders out of 63 starters made it to the finish While Eugene Christophe and the like raced in an era when bicycle races were feats of endurance that bordered on the militaristic This means that winning a race no longer results in having to spend a month in hospital The year that Gerald Ciolek won was a modern-era hark back to the days of raw physical suffering though with reports of riders crying and shivering uncontrollably as they rode through the sleet and snow So bad were the conditions that the race was shortened from 298km to 246km and the two highest climbs – the Turchino and La Manie – were bypassed with the riders climbing into their team buses and driven to the coast in a mid-race transfer Ian Stannard and Sylvain Chavanel led a dwindling bunch over the Poggio (the final climb of the race) and formed a six-man group that also included Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan in a sprint that was painful just watching and with a series of testing climbs peppered throughout the parcours Milan-San Remo is clearly a race that requires a decent amount of physical endeavour But the nature of the course allows for a long list of potential winners and an annual display of tactical complexity One such example was when Sean Kelly pipped Moreno Argentin in '92: The Italian was a hot favourite after notching up three consecutive wins in Tirreno-Adriatico and after powering away on the Poggio he indeed appeared to have an insurmountable gap in the twilight of his career and having struggled on the climb eschewed expectation and attacked on the descent Taking advantage of Argentin's weak descending skills the Irishman eventually bridged across and unashamedly refused to work before putting Argentin to the sword in the sprint The '99 edition of Milan-San Remo pitted a typically broad array of favourites together from the pure sprint speed of Erik Zabel and all-round capabilities of Michele Bartoli to the climbing prowess of Marco Pantani The latter two had forged ahead before commencing the Poggio but a lack of cohesion meant that everything came back together on the run-in for what was then taken to be a guaranteed Erik Zabel win the Russian/Belgian (and now officially Moldovan) Andrei Tchmil took a flyer Already a victor at Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours but not necessarily on the radar for Milan-San Remo Tchmil's deftly timed attack proved to be the winning move it's probably one of the most embarrassing and frustrating things that could happen to a professional cyclist German sprinter Erik Zabel had a 'bit of a mare' and raised his arms to celebrate only to watch Oscar Friere squeeze underneath him and take the win It would be the first of three Milan-San Remo victories for the Spaniard in a race that suited his tactical nous and physical strengths perfectly In perhaps one of the most tantalising climaxes to a race possible Mark Cavendish took the biggest win of his young career with a truly remarkable sprint in the 2009 edition of the race who would go on to enjoy his most successful season as a pro to date had launched a surprise early sprint/late attack with 250m to go gaining what appeared to be an insurmountable gap who was about to come into the prime years of his road sprinting career and then past him within millimeters of the line It was enough to make you – and him – weep You must be logged in to post a comment To manage an existing Cyclist magazine subscription, please visit Manage your account or visit our subscription FAQ page. To subscribe, or for other enquiries, please contact us Sign up to the Cyclist newsletter to receive curated emails direct to your inbox Sign up to our newsletter Log in to access Cyclist Rides using your email pertaining to your subscription Don't forget a subscription to Cyclist includes: Log in to post comments and use Ask Cyclist our AI platform that answers your questions based on our articles Register to comment on our latest articles Occasional emails from selected third-party sponsors and advertisers Please enter your username or email address to reset your password This won't be his last chance to win Milan-San Remo Tadej Pogačar enters Saturday’s Milan-San Remo as the five-star favorite for victory, like he does in any race, but this could be a now-or-never moment for the Slovenian in his quest for the elusive Italian monument the easiest race to finish but the hardest to win And Pogačar is quickly discovering just how true that idiom is Pogačar has been on a tear since he fully recovered from his injury at the 2023 Liège Also read: Milan-San Remo start lists, TV schedules, maps If there was a single blemish on his otherwise historic and dominant 2024 season — one that included the first Giro-Tour double in nearly 30 years and only the third “Triple Crown” in cycling history — it was missing out on Milan-San Remo It’s not like this is his last chance to win Milan-San Remo we can all expect Pogačar to be smashing all the Merckx records for years more to come Milan-San Remo could be that lone race that Pogačar might never be able to bulldoze with long-bomb attacks or demolish with his generational talent The Cipressa-Poggio combination just isn’t hard enough That complicates things infinitesimally compared to attacking alone with 50km to go across the Pyrénées or Alps And while he may be the most explosive rider we’ve seen in generations Milan-San Remo is the one race that requires a quixotic mix of strength Also read: 5 wild finales we want to see Pogačar is at the absolute peak of his powers and he’s rewritten the script of what a modern pro cyclist can do After blazing familiar and unknown trails across cycling’s milestones even races like Paris-Roubaix now seem within his grasp People love to criticize Milan-San Remo for being too predictable it’s one of the most perfectly designed races in the sport and it marks the first real showdown of the calendar (though Strade Bianche is quickly muscling in on that status) It’s also the one race where the widest range of riders have a legitimate shot at winning and even time trialists — this is like cycling’s potluck dinner So for a two-wheeled superhero like Pogačar But that’s exactly what will make this edition of Milan-San Remo so tantalizing Milan-San Remo seems destined to fall to Pogačar’s undeniable triple threat of power if we follow his progression of getting better in every edition he’s raced that leaves only second or first to keep the trend alive I fully expect him to be a one-man wrecking crew for another half-decade at least Also read: ‘Winning Roubaix is easier than San Remo for Pogačar’ very lucky to escape serious injury at Strade Bianche earlier this month a loss of motivation or interest — could Pogačar get bored with winning everything — any of these could mean he never gets another shot at San Remo while he’s in such a prime position to win but history is littered with big names who never cracked the San Remo code Tom Boonen and Peter Sagan raced it 13 times and never won who came closest to completing the monument sweep in modern cycling raced it 18 times (!!) without ever raising his arms in Via Roma La Primavera is unique in that everyone knows the key moments and everyone can gameplan every scenario There are a few ways for him to finally to solve cycling’s ultimate puzzle and I’m sure the UAE brass have been scouring numbers and plotting strategies for months One hyped-up tactic is to attack on the Cipressa but forcing an early move could shake up the race and break the sprinters’ teams before the Poggio even begins Pogačar’s been dropping Pogi bombs with abandon across his career and it’s been nearly 30 years since a winning move’s stuck on the Cipressa But don’t expect Pogačar to ride clear on Saturday Milan-San Remo isn’t a race attrition like last year’s road worlds in Zürich There will be too many fresh legs to chase even him down The more traditional move is attacking on the Poggio itself UAE brings a loaded squad and they’ll rail it up the Poggio That’s his best card to play to put the sprinters into the red and drive a wedge down to the Via Roma But if he can lose the likes of Philipsen and Matthews Another possibility is attacking down the Poggio descent Matej Mohorič mastered this move three years ago with a dropper post and even he warned Pogačar not to follow his line he could steal a page from Fabian Cancellara and launch a move after the Poggio That would mean following the wheels down the descent and then uncorking a huge attack in the final 800 meters to go and stop the sprinters from getting fully organized The problem is Filippo Ganna and a few others are probably thinking the same thing So that means it will come down to — just as almost every other edition — a supersonic high-stakes reduced bunch sprint He was third last year, and we’re talking about a half-wheel difference. If Jasper Philipsen isn’t at 100 percent after his Nokere Koerse crash and Michael Matthews gets distanced, his only real challenger would be Mathieu van der Poel It’s no surprise that the race finishes just down the road from the San Remo casino La Primavera is cycling’s biggest dice game of the year it’s longer than in any other race of the entire season Van der Poel is the only rider who can match Pogačar across the board in the classics The Dutchman didn’t light up Tirreno-Adriatico but appears ready to fly Ganna is looking stronger than ever and has the power for a late move Philipsen remains a major threat if he’s not too banged up from his Nokere Koerse spill Feel the spring in the air? That means it’s time for @Milano_Sanremo For the men, there’s a lot at stake. After back-to-back victories in La Primavera in 2023 and 2024, we’re returning with a strong lineup, featuring our past winners… pic.twitter.com/oceJIpFE7A — Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) March 21, 2025 Jonathan Milan is probably the most dangerous sprinter right now but the question is whether he can make it over the Poggio in a good position Biniam Girmay and Olav Kooij could surprise in a larger sprint Tom Pidcock is in excellent form and could attack down the Poggio remains a wild card if he uncorks another masterclass descent In short: This is Pogačar’s best chance to win Pogačar is a unique rider in modern cycling and flicks rivals like a dog shaking off water after a dip Insiders say he wants to win all of cycling’s major titles and he’s already won pretty much all of them already So of what’s left on his bucket list — Paris-Roubaix a fistful of a few other races — it’s Milan-San Remo that could prove the most elusive Also read: Women’s Milan-San Remo could deliver season’s best finale Not that the happy-go-lucky Pogačar would lose any sleep if he never won He’s already assured himself a seat among the sport’s gallery of GOATs He’ll be racing Saturday in the rainbow jersey he can check it off his bucket list and move on to Paris-Roubaix Van der Poel and Pogačar have faced off in Flanders before Sean Kelly breaks down Saturday’s men’s and women’s races and what to expect as the Classics calendar heads to Belgium Thanks to a rainy day in Ireland on Saturday I watched more of Milan-San Remo than I ever have before flicking between the men’s and women’s races The women’s race was really interesting It was quite similar to the men’s race in some ways because it was difficult to make the race hard and the terrain didn’t present opportunities for some of the favourites so we saw quite a big group on the top of the Poggio That’s a big difference from five years ago so there are more people able to be together in the final except when the course is really difficult and San Remo isn’t that kind of race It was a huge win for Wiebes but I was also really impressed by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot When she announced that she was coming back to the road after the Olympics I thought she was going to have some difficulties because the level the women are racing at is so high now and she’s been gone for so long so I was expecting her to take a long time to find her feet Her and Vos both sprinting was not perfect but she’s not really a lead-out rider and I think it was probably so fast in the end that it was hard to get organised.  with horrible weather at the start and then it dried up over towards the coast so luckily there was plenty of time for the riders to warm up and the weather didn’t affect the race too much I want to give some credit to one of the domestiques who maybe doesn’t get praised enough for what they do he must have done 200 kilometres on the front Thanks to Dillier’s control, the first part of the race was pretty normal, what you’d expect, and then it all became hectic on the Cipressa. Even before the winning attack, so many riders saw their race already over at the bottom of the climb, held up behind a crash just as Tim Wellens set that killer pace Even Pogačar was out of position.  but the lack of cohesion behind certainly helped because no teams were really getting organised or they wanted to save something for the sprint so that helped them stay away between the Cipressa and the Poggio something that’s historically been hard to do Van der Poel knew Pogačar was going to attack he didn’t even need to look – when you’re as experienced as he is and I knew he wasn’t going to get into difficulty at all I wasn’t surprised when he put in the attack at the top because it didn’t complicate things too much and also meant that Van der Poel and Pogačar kept riding in the final because they didn’t want him to come back He was just on top and in control all the way you’d think that it would be an advantage to Pogačar with the Cipressa and the Poggio and even if it is hard for him to make them really they’re still tough climbs when you’re going at that pace So it was going to be difficult for Van der Poel to match Pogačar With Flanders and Roubaix coming up it’s going to be interesting to see who can challenge the Dutch rider in the two big races It looks like advantage Van der Poel in the Belgian Classics, but we still have to see where Van Aert, Pedersen and all those guys are during this week with E3 and Gent-Wevelgem Van der Poel is the big favourite for Flanders Pogačar is going to be up there as well he’ll be close if not equal to Van der Poel because we’ve seen the way he can ride on the cobbles as if they’re not even there The key part of the parcours and the battle will be the Oude Kwaremont It’s a long section of cobbles and the climb goes on and on so Pogačar can really put Van der Poel in difficulty Van der Poel will have to be at his best if he wants to match Pogačar He also doesn’t need to race them to warm up to Flanders he could go away and prepare in another way or he could ride them with safety in mind and not take any risk but the thing is Pogačar doesn’t do that So for a rider whose objective is the Tour I’m surprised he’s doing so many of them The team should be able to talk to him and say 'Look we just don’t want you to do it' but it seems very much that what he wants to do he gets permission to do it to quite a big extent and that could turn out to affect his preparations for the Tour Both Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar have won three of the five Monuments and they must be thinking about whether they can win all five – even if Milan-San Remo seems to be a problem for Pogačar I don’t think it’s impossible for Van der Poel to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège but the way he’d been racing all the cobbled Classics he hadn’t really done any specific preparation for the race But then he came to the race and finished third so he really surprised me with that performance So I think Liège is certainly one he can win I think the climbs are too long and difficult so I think that would be more difficult for him to win It’s like Pogačar with San Remo: there’s a possibility We could see both riders end up stuck on four Monuments Sean Kelly"King Kelly" the greatest Irish cyclist to have graced the peloton brought the Emerald Isle to the fore alongside compatriot Stephen Roche in the 1980s Points winner at the Tour de France four times and a record-breaking seven consecutive wins at Paris-Nice feature during his glittering career – alongside double victories at Paris-Roubaix Milan-San Remo and Liège-Bastogne-Liège 'How we handle that is something we need to discuss': Will Lidl-Trek's double-threat derail its own chances against Pogačar and Van der Poel in a TdF selection spat Mads Pedersen will have to forget Saturday at Milan-San Remo that he was snubbed for Tour de France selection in favor of teammate  Jonathan Milan At least, that’s what Lidl-Trek will be hoping Saturday when it rolls out its double-threat for their big brawl with Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel “It’s nice to go into San Remo with such a good team,” Pedersen said this week ahead of La Primavera “It’s not a secret that Jonny [Milan] is the fastest of us in a sprint so if it is coming down to that then of course we sprint for Jonny “But even if there is a group going over the Poggio we’ve seen before that people are sometimes not going for a sprint in the end,” Pedersen said in a team note “How we handle that is something we need to discuss in our pre-race meeting.” That meeting on the Lidl-Trek bus Saturday morning might be a little tense Two-time Tour de France stage-winner Pedersen was fuming this winter when he lost his TdF spot to alpha sprinter Milan We’re a big team now and there are other priorities on the team too Johnny can win a lot of stages,” Pedersen said this winter when Lidl-Trek revealed its Tour de France selections “I would like to have ridden for the green jersey but I’m not going to bed crying because I won’t be riding the Tour,” Pedersen said Pedersen detonated Paris-Nice last week by climbing like he lost 20 pounds monument nearly-man Mads is looking as ready to win La Primavera as he’s ever been “The climbing legs are definitely there I’m happy with the shape I have right now,” Pedersen said “I’m not at all worried that my climbing improvement has come at the expense of my sprint.” his teammate Milan monstered to two more sprint wins last week at Tirreno-Adriatico only Tim Merlier beats the behemoth Italian on victory count this year Pedersen and Milan are slated to be co-leading Lidl-Trek with an open playbook Saturday Is that a double threat or just double trouble “Mr 2000-watt Milan” and classics brute Pedersen should be the ideal pairing of “tough guy” and “fast finisher” for the puzzle that is San Remo They’re Lidl-Trek’s answer to Alpecin-Deceunick’s deadly duo of Van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen What makes Alpecin-Deceunick’s wildly successful twin assault is 100 percent buy-in by both Van der Poel went deep last year on the Via Roma to set up Philipsen for his monument sprint like MVDP buries his ambitions in Alpecin’s Tour de France lead-out train Philipsen repays the favor in the cobbled classic engine-room Pedersen might have to pin his San Remo hopes on Milan going missing Saturday in a big brawl up the Cipressa and Poggio he’s relegated to becoming the most luxurious leadout man in the peloton “If someone sees Jonny in the group at the bottom of the Poggio then they for sure don’t want to bring him to the finish line,” Pedersen said this week “Then hopefully me and Jasper [Stuven] will be there as well and we will have to cover the guys who want to go before the finish it’s for Jonny,” Pedersen said in a team release Who knows what happens in the red mist of sixth-hour monument madness Lidl-Trek has a luxury problem for Milan-San Remo with its twin leader strategy If Pedersen is still stewing after his Tour de France snub it could derail the team’s best chance at monument victory since when Stuyven stunned San Remo in 2021 with his audacious late attack “There are races where one [of Pedersen and Milan] has a better chance than the other. Based on that we make choices,” team DS Steven de Jongh this week told Sporza “Milan and Pedersen accept those choices but we always have to disappoint one of them Yet team brass at Lidl-Trek might not even be forced to disappoint one of its two toppers Some rainbow stripes might make that call for them. “If Pogačar goes early it will make it a longer final I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes on Cipressa and wants to go long from there,” Pedersen said “It means for sure we will try to follow him and after Cipressa there would be a smaller group going into the Poggio normally when he goes you never see him again.” Este sábado, desde las 10:00h, en @Eurosport_ES y @StreamMaxES.#MilanoSanremo pic.twitter.com/URx3FxWeD3 — EDGAR SAIZ PERNIA (@edgarsaiz10) March 20, 2025 Will Pedersen bring his prime legs from Paris-Nice to the Italian Riviera? He’ll only find out when he tries to follow Pogačar’s inevitable attack. He might hope Milan doesn’t join along for the ride. What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France? Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view. There's still no sign of a man who was swept off rocks at Punchbowl beach along with his wife and another woman The search for a man missing at sea near Phillip Island has entered its second day The 41-year-old man's wife drowned but another woman was rescued when the three Chinese workers were washed off rocks while exploring a beach near San Remo Bass Coast Shire Council has extended its sympathies to the family and loved ones of the couple Link copiedShareShare articleAn air and sea search has resumed for a 41-year-old man who remains missing after a Good Friday tragedy south-east of Melbourne Police said seven Chinese nationals living in Packenham on working visas were exploring Punchbowl beach when three members of the group — including a husband and wife — were swept into the sea by a powerful wave about 8.30am on Friday but the wife was pulled unconscious from the water and could not be revived Punchbowl has been described as hazardous due to its rocks divers and jetskis spent hours trying to find the deceased woman's husband which included officers from the Victorian Fisheries Authority The Surf Life Saving Beachsafe website describes the beach as "moderately hazardous" with steep cliffs with a "permanent rip draining the small beach" A search for the missing man has entered its second day "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those involved in this terrible incident," said Mayor Rochelle Halstead and on behalf of Council and the wider Bass Coast community I offer our heartfelt condolences during this incredibly difficult time." A woman drowned at the same beach in December 2021 after she was also swept off rocks Last month, Bass Coast council launched a beach safety framework in response to six drownings at local beaches over the 2023/24 summer. The beach safety plan made six recommendations for action to prevent drownings, including physical barriers at high-risk locations, installing publicly accessible rescue equipment and exploring alternative lifesaving patrol models. "While Bass Coast is home to some of Victoria's most beautiful and picturesque beaches, it's also home to some of the most dangerous," the initiative reads. "While some drownings are people who reside in these areas, research shows that it's people visiting these areas from neighbouring municipalities that are most at risk." One of the boats taking part in the sea search for the missing man off Punchbowl beach on Saturday. (ABC News) The tragedy followed three drownings in New South Wales on Good Friday. A fisherman died after being swept off a break wall in Wollongong, another man drowned after falling into the water from rocks in Sydney Harbour and a third drowning was reported at Green Cape on the state's far south coast. A fourth person remains missing  after disappearing while swimming at Little Bay Beach in Sydney's south. CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) UPDATED: Belgian ace confirms he will race Milan-San Remo rising American classics star debuts with a bang and social media flogs the UCI over fine for Del Toro Isaac del Toro made history Wednesday as the first Mexican to win Milano-Torino, but the UCI jury handed him a fine No further explanation was provided in the official post-race jury report but the reason appeared to be his open jersey at the finish line The UCI takes a dim view of unzipped jerseys and swiftly hit the UAE Emirates-XRG phenom with a penalty A close inspection of photos also suggests a zipper malfunction It appears that Del Toro tried to fix the problem stopping and swapping it out was not a realistic option with the peloton whipping along at nearly 50kph There was no official word from the race jury but rules explicitly say riders cannot cross the finish line with their belly buttons hanging out but there were no points or other penalties applied The ruling didn’t dampen Del Toro’s joy in securing the biggest win of his young career, but the ruling triggered a fresh round of derision from fans across social media “I’m very young so it’s not up to me to dictate the tactic but if the team is confident in me for a race like today “I woke up this morning with clear ideas that I could make it today I’ll take my responsibilities to help Tadej Pogačar” UPDATED: Jasper Philipsen confirmed he will race Milan-San Remo this weekend after brushing off a nasty crash at Nokere Koerse His Milan-San Remo title defense was in jeopardy after a brutal crash Wednesday that sent him seeking medical help with a DNF The Alpecin-Deceuninck star hit the deck hard Wednesday after getting tangled up with Arne Marit inside the final sprint After worrying he might not defend his title “The crash obviously had a huge impact on my body,”Philipsen said Thursday “With a lot of abrasions and a few stitches That’s a relief after a spill Wednesday at the end of the Belgian one-day Philipsen was positioned near the front of a thinning peloton when Marit’s unexpected move sent him flying He lay on the ground for several minutes before being stepping into an ambulance What a comeback by Nils Eekhoff! 48 days ago he was hit lamppost at AlUla Tour and suffered fractured jaw and broken tooth. Today in first race after his crash, Eekhoff wins Nokere Koerse. #NokereKoerse pic.twitter.com/Adbvl3HlBO — ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) March 19, 2025 Philipsen later took to social media: “I couldn’t go anywhere This is really disappointing because I felt great and had set my sights on victory,” he posted “Sometimes things happen outside our control Luke Lamperti made an immediate impact in his 2025 debut the Californian revealed that a minor IT band issue delayed his season start he took some time off the bike to avoid risking longterm complications Also read: Lamperti roars into 2025 ready to make an impact That caution paid off. A podium finish in his first race back in Europe is a strong sign heading into the classics campaign, where he will help sprinters Tim Merlier and Paul Magnier but also take his own opportunities when he can like he did in Nokere “I was really happy to be quite consistent last year so now it’s about converting that into results to go from the top 10 to being on the podium and convert a few of those into wins when I have the opportunity,” Lamperti told Velo Nils Eekhoff (Picnic PostNL) scored a big win in his first race back since he crashed out of the AlUla Tour after smashed into a light post at near race speed last month Pogačar won Strade Bianche earlier this month Matthews has come close on Via Roma several times Pedersen heads to San Remo off a strong performance in Paris-Nice Pidcock has been in fine form with his new team Julian Alaphilippe could be dark horse on Saturday Mads Pedersen and defending champion Jasper Philipsen among others primed for first Monument of season be a long list of the strongest riders in the peloton determined to stand in his way always adds yet another layer of unpredictability to the event which has both climbers and sprinters among the list of protagonists Mistakes are amplified by the accumulation of kilometres A rider can pay dearly for extra energy spent during the six-plus hours on the bike when it comes down to the crucial final charge over Poggio and potentially decisive descent before the final dash to the line with no rider taking victories in consecutive years since Erik Zabel claimed wins number four and five in 2000 and 2001 There has not been a great deal between Pogačar and the top spot in the past two years so it would take very little to tip the balance in 2025 Jasper Philipsen took the reigns for Alpecin-Deceuninck in 2024 when as he put it "begged Mathieu on the radio not to work with Pogačar because I had great legs" It was a decision that paid off for the team there had been two years of solo winners so while there is certainly no guarantee of a bunch finish again this year if that circumstance plays out once again it is hard to look past the defending champion It was heartbreak for Michael Matthews at the 2024 Milan-San Remo as while the rider made it to the podium at the event for a third time There were centimetres in it as he crossed the line alongside Philipsen in a race where the scenario of a reduced bunch sprint played almost perfectly into the Jayco-AlUla rider's hands all except for that final few centimetres though fortunately there was no repeat of the DNF caused by stomach issues of last year There he was a powerful force in the team time trial that drove the team to second place on stage 3 and built his racing rhythm with all eyes set for a payoff on March 22 where he hopes to be the first Australian to stand on the podium since Simon Gerrans in 2012 when the Victorian followed up on the win by Matt Goss the year before Mads Pedersen looked full of promise as he charged towards the line in last year’s Milan-San Remo launching the sprint from teammate Jasper Stuyven’s wheel but then Philipsen and Matthews launched down the other side of the road and Pogačar also swept through Fourth was what was left for Pedersen in 2024 a step up from the pair of sixth places in the previous two editions but one painful spot shy of the podium.  another chance awaits in 2025 and he is clearly heading back with scorching form Pedersen was a force at Tour de la Provence in February then went on to also claim stage 6 at Paris-Nice Just as impressive was the show of climbing form which delivered a top-10 summit finish and a long break on the last hilly stage.  On top of that 2021 winner Stuyven is also once again on board – hopefully with not felt too many ill effects from a crash on the last stage of Tirreno-Adriatico – providing a powerful duo for Lidl-Trek as Jonathan Milan will be another potential trump card for the team if it comes down to a sprint with the 24-year-old fresh from two stage victories at Tirreno-Adriatico A late attack may not have worked out for Tom Pidcock last year but he still remained hopeful after walking away with 11th place: "In this scenario who has switched from Ineos Grenadiers to Q36.5 but it certainly hasn’t done his performance any harm Pidcock started the season by taking two stages and the overall win at the AlUla Tour then moved on to Vuelta a Andalucia where he took another stage victory and third overall He then took second place at Strade Bianche and also two runner-up stage spots at Tirreno-Adriatico he did express some frustration at taking another second place after the Queen stage of the Italian race which perhaps could help deliver a little extra motivation to throw all in to make Milan-San Remo the ultimate winning finish to this early season racing block It was 14th in the end for the young Dutch rider in the second group which was just 35 seconds behind the victor with the start to the year the 23-year-old has had hopes are high that he can build on this with a sprint victory after a hard and hilly stage at Tirreno-Adriatico last week on stage 4 adding fuel to the fire.  Kooij is another of the riders who will be hoping the race again comes down to a sprint and that this time he can get the better of Philipsen who beat him to the line at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne at the start of the month.  Filippo Ganna was one of the few who could hold onto Pogačar when he laid down his initial attack on the Poggio last year and has been readying his legs to tackle another at Tirreno-Adriatico fully engaging in the attacking games with Milan-San Remo rival Van der Poel on the longest stage "I tried to go early to see how I felt after six hours of racing It was a good test for the next long races," Ganna explained after the 239km stage 3.  The attack may not have delivered the desired result this time but the leg-testing stage race that ended with a win in the opening time trial and second overall are promising signs for what’s ahead Ganna may have slipped away to 40th last year at the Monument after Pogačar’s second Poggio attack proved a bridge too far but he knows what it takes to finish near the front On top of that Ganna seems determined to lead by example in his plight to lift Ineos Grenadiers to success – a top result at Milan-San Remo would go a long way to add momentum to that rebound She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor Previously she worked as a freelance writer Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport The World Champion vows to return to La Classicissima in 2026 after back-to-back podium finishes Tadej Pogačar promised to return to Milan-San Remo in 2026 to try to win again and perhaps make amends for another defeat at the hands of Mathieu van der Poel UAE Team Emirates-XRG blew-up Milan-San Remo on the Cipressa climb as Tim Wellens set an infernal pace on the lower slopes Jhonatan Narváez then dragged Pogačar up to the front to deliver one final leadout before the World Champion danced away on the pedals at maximum power in his usual style.  but could not shake off an attentive Van der Poel and a tenacious Ganna but it would be really optimistic for it to work but I was also happy to go away with Mathieu and Filippo," Pogačar said "I then tried to attack them on the Poggio but I knew I needed to go early we all started to sprint together at 300 metres but Van der Poel managed to hold his wheel whilst Filippo Ganna fought his way back on time and time again all the way to the Via Roma Van der Poel then dominated the final sprint from the front with Pogačar having little left for one final effort as he finished in third place behind the Dutchman and Ganna I can be really proud about how we rode today Every year we do better and we showed more aggression and more willpower on the Cipressa but there were two guys faster than me…" Pogačar had no criticism of Van der Poel despite the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader sitting on his wheel for long spells "He didn't care if there was two or three of us in the final," Pogačar explained "For me it would be better just the two of us or even alone but he knew he could sit on my wheel and that I'd tried to attack He was just so strong today and Pippo [Ganna] too I have to be satisfied with third," he accepted Pogačar was left disappointed but not angry "I don't hate Milan-San Remo but one year it needs to go right," he said "For sure we will come for more next year." Pogačar will turn his to the cobbles of Belgium for a Monument rematch with Van der Poel at the Tour of Flanders in two weeks There is also the possibility that we will see the Slovenian on the start line for Paris-Roubaix next month to complete the trilogy Cyclingnews understands that Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG will finally reveal their decision on Paris-Roubaix in the next few days Stephen FarrandSocial Links NavigationHead of NewsStephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team having reported on professional cycling since 1994 He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022 before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters Italy’s most important music festival, the San Remo Festival had an unexpected guest this year: Pope Francis the Holy Father used the festival’s platform to share a message of peace and hope emphasizing the power of music as an “instrument of coexistence among peoples.” broadcast live from Casa Santa Marta to millions of viewers highlighted the plight of many children worldwide who “cry and suffer due to the many injustices in the world.” he also expressed a deep human and Christian longing: “What I desire most is to see those who have hated each other shake hands, embrace, and proclaim through life, music, and song: Peace is possible!,” COPE reported. known for launching the careers of Italian artists and selecting Italy’s Eurovision representative Pope Francis recalled how his mother introduced him to the beauty of music teaching him its power to convey harmony and meaning He also mentioned the recent World Children’s Day a gathering of young people from diverse backgrounds that he described as a “beautiful moment” of hope The Pope’s words at San Remo echo a long and rich tradition of the Catholic Church embracing music as a means of uplifting the soul and uniting people. From Gregorian chant in medieval monasteries to the soaring compositions of Mozart and Beethoven sacred music has long been an integral part of worship and culture The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that music “adds delight to prayer and confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites” (CCC 1157) This belief extends beyond church walls — throughout history Catholic musicians and composers have used their art to communicate faith Pope Francis’ message at a secular event like San Remo is a reminder that music is not only a form of entertainment but also a force for unity and healing Just as sacred hymns have comforted generations of believers today’s songs can also inspire hope and bring people together across differences The Pope’s words resonated deeply with the audience. Those present at the Teatro Ariston gave him a standing ovation. Festival host Carlo Conti introducing a special performance by Israeli singer Noa and Palestinian artist Mira Awad He often raises his voice to cry out for peace in the world,” Conti remarked “I asked if he could send a thought for this moment Pope Francis’ unexpected appearance at San Remo was a powerful reminder that in a world too often divided music can be a bridge — one that leads not only to beauty but also to understanding and peace Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news